


Burn Your Kingdom Down

by FarenMaddox



Series: KuroFai Olympics entries [3]
Category: Clover (Manga), Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, X/1999, xxxHoLic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, I swear this was just supposed to be KuroFai, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2013-08-06
Packaged: 2017-12-22 14:58:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 51,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/914571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FarenMaddox/pseuds/FarenMaddox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Originally posted for the 2013 KuroFai Olympics, now with editing/additional content) 113 years ago, rogue vampires attacked the town where Kurogane lived and killed everyone—well, almost everyone.  Kurogane wants nothing to do with his fellow vampires until he meets Fai and Yuui and finds himself being drawn into war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. a different breed

Part One

_maybe I'm a different breed and maybe I'm not listening_

Kurogane knocked on the door to a small, single-story house, and took a deep breath.

"Okay," he said to Shizuka, "You're here because I think the girls are getting to that age where they're gonna have questions about why you want to be with me, and you can answer that better than me. But they're still, you know, pretty young, so, just . . . be vague."

Shizuka stood in the shade of the porch beside him, squinting slightly against the light of the midday sun. Kurogane had opted for sunglasses. He rarely remembered to blink, which was one of the reasons he also rarely went out in daylight. It was nothing but myth that his kind burned in the sun, but it made sense to be discrete and keep to the shadows and the dark of night so people didn't notice all the little things that didn't add up about him.

The door opened, and Kurogane took his sunglasses off. "You didn't tell me you painted," he said immediately, and scowled. "You should have told me."

Chitose's smile was as warm and welcoming as ever, despite the reprimand. The house had been yellow with white trim until recently, and the sudden shift to blue had him suspicious. If he found out she'd been up on some rickety ladder without so much as asking if he was free to help . . .

"I hired a professional," she explained. "I would have asked for help if I'd been doing it myself, I promise."

Then she leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. Shizuka let out a cough that sounded far too much like amusement, and now that Kurogane was not scowling at the idea of Chitose trying to paint her own house without his help, he turned the glare on his companion.

"Do I get a kiss?" Shizuka asked, voice impressively even.

Kurogane slapped him across the back of the head. He was careful to use only a fraction of his strength. Shizuka's head was only human, after all. "No. Shut up. Chitose, this is Doumeki Shizuka. My . . . You know."

Chitose, impervious to Kurogane's moods, stepped forward and gave the young man a quick hug. "Welcome to our home. It's nice to meet you—"

"You can call me Shizuka," he said quickly.

"Both of you come inside," Chitose said, stepping out of the way and holding open the door. "Kurogane, thanks for coming over. I wouldn't have called, but I just thought it was better for you to answer the girls' questions yourself."

Kurogane shrugged easily and tucked his sunglasses into the collar of his shirt. "I don't mind coming over, you know that. Speaking of the girls, where are they?"

"Girls!" Chitose called out as she shut the door. "Kurogane's here!"

The thundering of small feet in the hallway sounded more like a herd of elephants than two little girls. Two blonde heads flew at him and butted him in the sides. If he'd been breathing, it would have knocked the air right out of him, but he pretty much didn't bother unless he needed the air for speech. Two pairs of wiry little arms were wrapped around him, and the air was full of giggles and chattering in a pitch so high he was surprised the dogs in the neighbourhood weren't yowling.

He caught a girl in each arm and hugged them back, then set them rather carefully a few inches away from him. "Chitose, are you _ever_ gonna cut their hair?" he asked as he looked them over. "And dress them in different clothes?" he added.

The girls giggled, but no clues as to which one was Chise and which one was Chiho were forthcoming. Well, whatever, they were a matched set, he always just called them "hey you" or something anyway.

"Come see our room," one of them said, tugging on his hand.

"We re-decorated it," the other said, tugging on his other hand.

And thank God and all his angels for that. Last time he'd been here it was so violently pink and full of glittery princess crap that he'd thought he'd go blind.

"You come too," added the first one, looking back at Shizuka, who was standing rather bemusedly in the foyer with his hands in his pockets. Chitose had her mouth open to admonish them for being rude, but she closed it at that.

"Are you Kurogane's special friend?"

Shizuka and Kurogane both snorted, almost in unison, but then he answered "Yeah, I guess."

"What's your name?"

"Doumeki—" Kurogane began to answer, but was interrupted.

"You can call me Shizuka."

He was really getting a kick out of this, the bastard. "Call me Shizuka," indeed.

"I'm Chiho and that's Chise." Kurogane desperately noted the difference—Chiho had purple ribbons in her hair and Chise had white. At least he'd be able to tell them apart for the rest of the day. "We've never seen what it looks like when he bites someone," she said, a wicked light in her eyes.

"Can we see it?" asked Chise, with a similar unholy gleam.

That stopped Shizuka in his tracks in surprise. Kurogane grinned.

"I told you before; they know how it works."

"You said I had to be vague," Shizuka muttered, and followed them the rest of the way to the bedroom.

"See?" the girls said proudly, in unison, throwing open the door.

It was now purple and varying shades of gray and white, with a lot of lace. It was exceptionally, horribly female. But it was less objectionable than glittery pink princess crap, so Kurogane nodded his head and made a passable effort at looking appreciative.

"Nice," he muttered.

"We decided to have something more elegant because we're too old for that other stuff," Chiho said importantly.

"How old are you?" Shizuka asked in a neutral voice, carefully keeping his amusement to himself.

"Nine," they said in unison. "How old are you?"

It was always eerie when they did that.

"Twenty six," Shizuka answered, untroubled as always that he was getting too old to still be in school. His studies had been interrupted by meeting Kurogane. They'd moved, he'd had to transfer to a different university, then it had taken quite a while to find the balance between how much blood Kurogane needed for sustenance and how much Shizuka needed to be healthy. He was finally back on track, now. He actually hadn't aged in several years, so he was starting to look a little young in the face, something that would get more and more obvious as time passed.

"Did you know Kurogane's a hundred and thirty?" Chise asked him.

"Yep," Shizuka drawled.

"Even though he doesn't look that old," Chiho said critically, eyeing him. "He looks even younger than you."

Kurogane scowled. "Your mother says you've been taking music lessons, girls. Shizuka and I wanted to hear what you've been practicing." Great, now even the girls were noticing. It wasn't _his_ fault he'd been turned so young.

"How old _were_ you?" Shizuka murmured as the twins led them, chattering all the while, to the drawing room where they had the piano. Apparently Chiho played, and Chise sang.

Kurogane rubbed the back of his neck—it was a habit when he was embarrassed, and a hundred years later he still hadn't broken himself of it. "Seventeen," he muttered.

"Glad you found me when you did," Shizuka smirked. "If I looked any older this would start to look creepy." Then he blinked, and gave Kurogane a look like he was seeing him for the first time. "Damn, you had kids _young_."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you said this is your family, so I was assuming they were your great granddaughters or something . . ."

"Oh," Kurogane said, rubbing his neck again. "Ah. They're not exactly . . ."

"You don't know the story?" Chise asked, leaving her sister at the piano and running back over to them. "Kurogane, you should _tell_ him. It's a good story. Kurogane's very heroic, like a fairy tale. Only vampires."

Kurogane closed his eyes and wished, not for the first time, that the myth about vampires turning into a flock of bats was true. He'd like to screech in their faces and fly the fuck out of here right now.

"Maybe you should tell me the story," Shizuka suggested, throwing himself down into a chair and looking at Chise with expectation.

She scurried over and sat down on the floor beside him. Chiho was playing scales on the piano, but she was turned their direction and smiling with anticipation. The only reason Kurogane didn't flee and pretend he had to discuss something important with Chitose was that he wasn't about to leave Shizuka alone with the girls.

"It's a story about my great-great-grandma," the girl said, adjusting the white ribbons in her hair. "My Nana Tomoyo. When she was a little girl, Kurogane's family was her neighbors. And they lived in a very small village, because it was a long time ago and stuff."

Yeah, this one had all the makings of a great storyteller.

"And a group of scary vampires, the bad kind, not like Kurogane, the ones who hurt people on purpose, those vampires—they _attacked_!" This was accompanied by Chise gesturing with her hands, fingers curved into claws. "And they killed everyone, and they set fire to people's houses. Kurogane had a very fast horse, and he found my Nana Tomoyo hiding in her closet, and he put her on the horse, and the horse's name was Ginryuu I think, and he put Great Grandma on his horse Ginryuu and sent her away. And then he fought with the vampires to make sure they didn't go after her! He was very, _very_ brave, and cool, just like the prince in Sleeping Beauty who had to go through all the big thorn bushes and fight with the dragon."

Shizuka snorted, apparently unable to help himself. Kurogane scowled ferociously. He was very glad that he was incapable of blushing. He wondered how long it was going to take her, babbling away like this, to actually tell the story. He was still trying to figure out some reason to tell her to stop, and he couldn't think of one. She was only nine, she didn't really get that maybe he wouldn't want to tell Shizuka all this.

"So then he was a vampire, because one of the bad ones made him like that. And he went and found Nana Tomoyo to make sure she was safe, and then he kept protecting her for her whole life, and then when she had a family he said he would always protect her family, and she said that because he was so brave then her family would always help him too. So that's how come he comes over sometimes and talks to mom and makes sure things are okay and fixes the sink when it's backed up, and it's how come when my Auntie Sayaka's husband was being bad, Kurogane made him stop and made him go home and be a good dad to their baby who's my cousin. Because Mom says it's from him saving my nana that made it so he couldn't have his own family, so we'd be his family instead. And Mom wanted us to call him Uncle Kurogane, but he said no _way_ and he won't let us."

Story thus completed, Chise sat there beaming with accomplishment, waiting for Shizuka's reaction. Kurogane looked out the window.

"You're right," Shizuka said slowly. "Very brave. Just like the prince. Do you know any good songs that would go along with the story? Maybe you two could play a song that sounds like it's about being brave."

Chise scurried over to the piano, where she and Chiho began to argue ferociously about the songs in their repertoire and which of them might be a good accompaniment to the story of Kurogane the Brave.

Shizuka shrugged at him, not moving from the chair. "I was just curious," he said quietly. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Kurogane muttered. "It's not that big of a deal."

"I'm guessing Chitose keeps track of your finances and keeps everything legal, since you technically died a hundred years ago and everything?"

"… yeah."

"Did you really go find their aunt's husband and threaten him?"

"Tche," Kurogane snorted, not unhappily, remembering that. Baring his fangs and telling Kazuto that leaving them to protect them meant they were all alone, and how fucking useless was that? _He'd_ do the protecting, thanks very much, he'd been doing it _long_ before this little prick had come along and thought he was good enough for Sayaka. To his credit, Kazuto had taken the lesson to heart and gone home and stuck with his family after that. Kurogane had taken care of the rest of that little problem on his own. He almost licked his lips at the memory of what he'd done to those assholes. They'd picked the wrong family to terrorize. "Yeah."

And suddenly Shizuka was giving him bedroom eyes. Kurogane smacked him on the back of the head again and they both settled down for a minute to listen to the girls play. After they finished their song, they both darted back over to the two men.

"We wanna see," Chiho reminded them.

"Yeah, we wanna see what it looks like when he bites you."

"No," Kurogane said, but Shizuka was already rolling up his sleeves. Kurogane turned his eyes away, hating the sight. Shizuka's arms were both scabbed from bite marks, the skin a horrific mottling of bruises in various stages, some green and some still purple. At least he didn't take off his pants and show them the wounds on his legs, too, though Kurogane would hardly put it past him. "Put your sleeves back down," Kurogane barked. The girls were _nine_ , they didn't need to see this.

But it would have been like closing the barn door after the horses had already escaped. The girls were laying cautious fingers to the marks and marveling up at Shizuka's face.

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"It looks like it hurts."

"It does a little, but I don't mind," Shizuka said, sounding unconcerned.

"How come?"

"It only hurts a little, and I wouldn't want Kurogane to go hungry. You know he can't eat the same food as normal people, right? This is all he can eat. So it's not so bad. I'm pretty tough."

Chitose called them all into the other room to have something to drink and to chat. There was nothing she could offer Kurogane, but they were used to it well enough that it didn't embarrass her anymore. The girls kept giving Kurogane side-long glances while they chattered with their mother, in between everyone throwing a billion questions at Shizuka that he fielded with far more patience than he ought to have. The girls had never looked at him like that before. With caution. Because they knew, now. Knew that he had to hurt someone for his own survival.

There had been a time once when he'd seen Chitose and Sayaka start looking at him like that, too.

Someday, the twins would have kids, and he'd see it yet again.

Shizuka's hand squeezed his knee under the table. Kurogane was surprised by the gesture of support and affection—he and Shizuka didn't often behave with a lot of intimacy. But he gratefully held onto his hand for a moment. Just because he was one hundred and thirty years old didn't mean he'd gotten used to seeing his family start looking at him like that. It was only Tomoyo who never had.

* * *

Kurogane knocked on Shizuka's door and found him sitting at his desk with a pile of notes and books around him. He looked slightly glassy-eyed, and his hair was tousled by his own hands running through it with distraction. He barely looked up when Kurogane slid into the room. He didn't mean to always be so silent, but it came more and more naturally over the years, knowing how to place his feet and how to move so his clothing didn't rustle.

"Going to Kusanagi's?" Shizuka muttered the question, flipping through a textbook with one hand while he kept his finger on a page in another.

"Yeah. Don't study all night," Kurogane said. He almost made a sarcastic comment about Shizuka's lack of sleep, considering he'd been gone all the night previous and Kurogane had thought he was studying at the university library until he'd come home smelling of someone else and coffee. But it would be too possessive coming from someone who claimed Shizuka was free to have his own life. Instead, after a brief hesitation, he dropped a light kiss on Shizuka's temple. To his credit, Shizuka didn't suddenly break his concentration or pause in his search, but he did sport an odd smile as Kurogane slipped back out.

The walk to Kusanagi's was short and familiar, so Kurogane paid little attention to anything but the pleasantness of the night air. It was summer and the smell of eucalyptus trees was heavy, mingling with mown grass and the blacktop releasing its accumulated warmth from the day. It was late, midnight, but there were still a few lights on in a few houses, and even the lingering scent of a barbecue hours past.

It wasn't the sort of neighbourhood where you would expect to find a vampire. Not when the mythology said they were loners, killers, mysterious and ancient and bloodthirsty. They ought to all live in old manses or catacombs or something. But the truth of the matter was that a typical suburb of a medium size was one of the easiest places in the world to hide your secrets and keep to yourself. More so for Kurogane, who'd spent his entire life as a vampire staying close to normal humans, to his family—and, typically, far from others of his kind.

Kusanagi was different. He and Kurogane had run into each other one night trailing some people who'd had a suspicious meeting in an alleyway between a pizzeria and a hardware store. They'd sized each other up immediately and realized they were both protecting the same city with what seemed to be the same motivations. So rather than engage in some sort of territorial battle, they'd both taken a step back, sheathed their fangs, and let their shoulders drop. Then Kusanagi had invited him back to his home for a chat.

Kurogane had been coming by a few times a week to play cards ever since.

Being a vampire was a hard existence for many reasons, but it was the lack of sleep that could truly drive you mad. All those long days and nights that could blur together, that could be unbearably lonely, that was one of the hardest things. Kurogane had family to visit. Had Shizuka. But they slept, went to work, went to school. Kurogane did none of these things anymore. You had to have paperwork and interviews for things like that. He'd died a hundred and thirteen years ago, and it was too hard to forge identities anymore. He didn't worry about money; he and Tomoyo had made wise investments and her family had been careful about maintaining them. But it was easy to grow bored.

So he had this. Protecting the city, and poker with Kusanagi.

It was informative, if nothing else. Kurogane had met few other vampires, and the ones he had were not company he kept long. In truth, he hated everything about vampires. They were smug bastards or worse. The names they had for normal humans—slaves, cattle, pets—made it obvious that they thought they were a higher step in evolution. Like hell. Normal humans didn't have to eat each other to stay alive and they died all on their own without needing a fucking two by four through the chest. Part of the reason Kurogane stuck in the admittedly boring suburbs was that old and arrogant bloodsuckers still didn't come here.

Kusanagi had taught him a lot, without even knowing it. They just talked, and Kusanagi told him plenty about the world that Kurogane only lived on the edges of. Kusanagi was an interesting character anyway—about two hundred years old, and in service to a more powerful vampire named Fai. Fai lived somewhere in the area, and Kusanagi was charged with keeping the place clean. Kurogane slowly gleaned that although he'd thought Kusanagi was poaching on his territory, Kusanagi was semi-officially sanctioned and could boot Kurogane out if he wanted to. Kusanagi seemed to like having him around, though. They'd mapped the city out to make sure everything was being kept under watch, and Kurogane was free to do as he liked. But Kurogane had no doubt that everything about him had been reported to Fai. That rankled him.

An elder like the vampire Fai could only be ten times worse than the predators Kurogane had run into before. Probably hundreds and hundreds of years old, probably dangerous. Kurogane had no desire to get anywhere near him.

Kurogane went around the back of Kusanagi's place, which was more run-down than his own. Kusanagi stuck to it because there was an vacant lot behind him rather than more homes, which suited Kusanagi's purposes since there were fewer people to see his odd comings and goings. He knocked on the back door and nodded to Kusanagi when the older vampire opened it.

"Hey."

"Hey. Come on in."

Kurogane came in through the small mudroom and moved into the kitchen, where they always left the folding table set up with a battered radio and a few decks of cards stacked up. There had been a memorable occasion when two of Kusanagi's old friends had come through town and they'd actually been able to play a decent game, but Kurogane had been on edge the entire night trying not to let on to the other vampires how little he knew of their kind. It was one thing to be young, it was another to foolishly fumble some kind of protocol. Kurogane might not want to be too familiar with other vampires, but neither did he want to signal to them that he was weak or stupid.

He saw a few dishes in the sink, and flicked his eyes questioningly to Kusanagi. The thick shoulders moved in a slight shrug, but he didn't say anything.

So he had a new prey, or a thrall perhaps. Kurogane didn't know enough to know whether or not Kusanagi enthralled his prey. There were a few advantages, like knowing for sure that they were at your beck and call and knowing for sure that they wouldn't expose you. But then there was the bit that Kurogane had never been able to stomach, where they lost their free will and nine-tenths of their personality. Kusanagi seemed more practical than sentimental, so Kurogane wondered.

The new prey must be a recent acquisition. They also seemed partial to cold cereal, judging by the pile of milky bowls in the sink. Kusanagi used to have someone who stayed out of sight every time Kurogane had come over, for a while, but there had been no signs of them for a few weeks, and Kurogane had found out that Kusanagi could feed at Fai's home if he could not find prey of his own—one of the perks of having a master, Kurogane supposed. Although it begged the question of how many thralls Fai kept around. He was probably a greedy old bastard with a half-dozen slaves at his feet.

Kurogane took a seat and started dealing out the cards, waiting for Kusanagi to flick the radio on and start up a conversation. It was his house, so Kurogane wasn't going to. Tonight, though, he sat down quietly and didn't reach for the radio. It took him a minute before he said anything, and when he did speak his voice was hushed.

"So something was bothering about what you were telling me last time."

Kurogane thought back to what they'd talked about last week. Oh, yes, how could he forget? His stomach twisted sourly. The night of his making. Screams and blood and fire. _"You think you can kill me, child?"_

"You said they left you there and didn't ever come back for you . . . But you know what they looked like, right? You could have found them by now. Why don't you ever look for your maker?"

Kurogane shook his head impatiently, as much irritated by the hand of cards he'd dealt himself as he was with the line of questioning. "I don't remember. I don't know."

"You don't remember the bastard that bit you and ran off?" Kusanagi asked incredulously.

Kurogane snorted derisively, although he felt a sort of vindication and relief. Kusanagi's reaction to finding out he had been essentially orphaned by his maker had been shocked and profoundly angry. Apparently it just wasn't done. If you made a vampire, you took responsibility for your creation. In Kusanagi's own words, a vampire you'd made was your child. He'd also said he hadn't made one, but from what he understood the bond was supposed to be strong.

"It just doesn't make any sense to me that after killing off an entire town, one of us would choose to turn you instead of killing you, but then turn around and leave you there. That's just strange."

"I agree, but that's the way it happened," Kurogane drawled. "My memories of that night are . . . Not good. I mean, they're patchy. I only remember bits and pieces. I might be able to pick a couple of them out of a line-up, but I couldn't describe them well enough to track down. And I don't think I'd know which of them it was, anyway."

There had been six of them. They'd cut through his little town like a hot knife through butter. And then they'd set fire to everything. He could barely remember what had happened. Except the voice. He remembered the voice. _"You think you can kill me, child?"_

Kusanagi frowned. "I asked Fai about it. He said he could only remember one time a vampire had turned someone and abandoned them, and that vampire got brought up on charges. It's a crime for us, turns out. It's irresponsible. Newborns have got too much bloodthirst and not enough sense. It's the maker's job to keep control of them and teach them our ways. Whoever made you could be in a lot of trouble."

Kurogane shrugged, feeling tetchy about the whole thing. He didn't like talking about this. "I turned out fine. I've killed, but never for blood."

"You're something, that's for sure," Kusanagi muttered.

Then he tidily won the hand. Kurogane scowled.

Shuffling footsteps alerted him to another presence as new cards were dealt out. He looked up.

A young girl came in, wearing tiny little shorts and a loose sleeping shirt and ugly slippers in the shape of fuzzy dogs on her feet. She went to the fridge and grabbed a carton and started drinking right out of it. She turned around and grinned cheerfully at Kurogane.

"Hello."

Kurogane's words stuck in his throat.

"What are you doing up?" Kusanagi said reprovingly. "You ought to be asleep, girl. I told you to start taking better care of yourself."

She blushed and scowled at the same time, and those stupid little dog slippers scuffed at the floor. "I was asleep, I just got thirsty. Who's your friend?"

Kusanagi crossed his arms and stared her down.

"Fine, fine," she sighed, replacing the carton in the fridge. "Honestly, you're worse than my mother."

She shuffled back out of the room, Kusanagi's eyes never leaving her back until she turned a corner.

"I was trying not to wake her, but we might as well give that up as a lost cause," he sighed, and reached over to flick the radio on. "She's probably playing some video game all night."

Kurogane was still frozen where he sat. She wasn't a thrall, obviously, but that didn't appease him one whit. She was a little _girl_. He doubted she was even in _high school_. She was just a kid, and here she was prancing around half-naked at midnight with two vampires from a previous century. Kusanagi was feeding from a _child_. Keeping her here, taking her blood . . .

Kurogane wanted to be sick. Would have if he still possessed the physical capacity for it. He was raging inside, and chafing with the knowledge that he couldn't do anything. As a fighter, he was probably better than Kusanagi. They'd worked together a time or two, and he'd gotten the measure of the other vampire. But that didn't change the fact that Kusanagi was near enough to a hundred years older than him. Kurogane didn't have any _figurative_ weight to throw around with older vampires. He knew enough to know that any effort he made to tell his senior what he could or could not do would not be well met.

"That's Yuzuriha," Kusanagi said after a pause, looking uncomfortable. "Don't worry about her."

Kurogane bristled, but tamped it down as best he could. He didn't know what the penalty might be for wrestling Kusanagi into submission and poaching his prey, but he doubted it would be good. He'd do it anyway, and damn the consequences, but he had a better idea.

Fai.

Much as he wanted to avoid the other vampire, he didn't have a choice anymore. He'd have to go see Fai. He didn't think he'd be able to convince him that it was _wrong_ to keep a girl so young as prey, but he might have luck convincing him it was _conspicuous._ That was all they really cared about. Being too conspicuous. And some old-and-grizzled-looking guy like Kusanagi was going to attract all the wrong kinds of attention in this neighbourhood if this fresh-faced girl was seen by anyone.

Dammit it all to hell. This was the last thing he'd wanted.

His shoulders wouldn't relax the rest of the night, and the silence lay thick between the two of them over the table. The radio couldn't quite cut through it. Finally, around three o'clock, Kurogane realized that if he didn't call it a night he was gonna jump over the card table and put his claws into Kusanagi's eyes. So he finished out his hand, then stood and stretched nonchalantly.

"I better head out," he said casually. "My prey's been worn out the past couple of days, and I've gotta get him healthy soon before I start getting too thirsty. I wanna make sure he's sleeping."

Kusanagi nodded amicably and swept up the cards to put them away. "Okay. Let me know if you want to try looking for your maker. Fai could help."

Kurogane stiffened, and Kusanagi's hands left the cards to raise up in a gesture of surrender. "Just saying help is available. See you."

Kurogane gave the best nod of thanks he could manage, and hurried home probably faster than was wise. Even if it was three in the morning, it wasn't a good idea to show off a vampire's speed where humans could easily see it. He just wanted to put Kusanagi's house behind him so he could think. How was he going to approach Fai? Hell, how was he even going to _find_ him?

He made his way silently into the house, trying not to wake Shizuka. But as he passed the closed door to Shizuka's bedroom he saw a dim light. Probably the desk lamp. Without even knocking, he opened the door and scowled at the figure hunched over the desk.

"What are you still doing up?"

Amber eyes glimmered in the light as they lifted to look at him. "Wasn't too tired, and it's a good book," came the short, easy answer. "And you're always thirsty after you've been over there, so I waited up for you."

It was true that spending time around another vampire and their prey was rather like being constantly aware of a meal being prepared. Kurogane felt the familiar pinch, not in his stomach but in his chest, and the dry roughness in his throat that signaled his need for blood. It was making itself known more urgently than it usually did because he was upset. He was always more thirsty when his emotions ran hot. Which is why he was always so careful not to give in right away.

"Aren't you clever?" he muttered, ambling across the room and taking a moment to see what the book was, laying open on the desk. Some vapid romance novel about vampires. "Cute," he grunted, scowling at the smirk his companion wore. "You ought to be sleeping, don't you have class in the morning?"

"I told you; it's spring break. I'm all yours this week. Well, I have to finish a paper. But mostly all yours."

Kurogane just felt even more irritable at that. Shizuka wasn't all his and never would be, because he didn't enthrall his prey. Just like he didn't go after children. So he'd been abandoned, so he didn't know the rules. So what? He had created his own code of morals to live by, and he thought he'd done well enough. He took care of his prey and looked after innocents and kept the city safe.

He'd never kept a prey as long as he'd kept Shizuka. They were having to come up with some new rules for Kurogane's code. He wanted Shizuka to have his own life. He wasn't a possession. It suited Shizuka that he was granted the long life of a vampire's prey—doomed alongside Kurogane to never grow older or die—because he claimed to be waiting for something. He had never said what he was waiting for, and Kurogane had never pressed him. They had a careful arrangement that worked for them, and Kurogane wanted him to keep going to school, to keep his own friends, to pursue his own interests.

It occasionally backfired. That time he'd come home tasting of marijuana hadn't been pleasant. Or that time he'd come home tasting of some other man who just tasted _foul_.

But mostly, it worked. Shizuka kept himself healthy and available, and Kurogane tried not to request anything too ludicrous.

"Come on, then," he said softly.

Kurogane pulled him away from the desk and pushed him toward the rumpled, unmade bed on the other side of the room. He meant to bear him down and stretch himself atop the other man and quench his thirst, but at the last moment, Shizuka turned the tables on him, swinging him around and pushing him down onto the bed. He sat heavily, and his prey straddled his lap.

Surprising, but not unwelcome. Kurogane allowed the hard kisses and the fingers trailing underneath his shirt for a few minutes. In truth, he marveled at the way Shizuka treated him sometimes. At his acceptance of Kurogane's nature, and the fact that he kissed him with passion even though he knew nothing could come of it. It was rare for someone to understand how complicated it was to get into a sexual relationship with someone who was physically incapable of sex, and who would simply enjoy what was given. Vampires were, after all, dead. It freaked the humans out, so normally you had to put them under thrall to get a relationship like this. Yet another reason Kurogane lived with Shizuka when he had never kept prey long-term before.

It was nearly four in the morning, though, and while Shizuka might be planning to sleep in, Kurogane wasn't about to start pleasuring his prey when he'd been up all night twice in a row now. He grabbed Shizuka's wrist, encircling it with his fingers, lifting his hand up. He kissed Shizuka's palm, and trailed a line of nibbling kisses up his arm before stopping at the crook of his elbow.

"When did you last smoke?" he murmured against Shizuka's skin.

"It's been a while, I cut back," came the amused reply. "You should have just told me you didn't like the taste at the beginning."

Kurogane didn't answer that, just slid his fangs free and sunk them into the big vein. His prey had to wear long sleeves to avoid getting accused of shooting up, since the bruised bite wounds there looked worryingly similar to track marks. Kurogane tried to vary the places he fed from, so the wounds had time to heal. He'd tried using a knife before, so it wouldn't bruise, but knives weren't as precise and therefore more dangerous. He wouldn't put Shizuka's life at risk just for cosmetic purposes.

Blood coated thickly over his teeth and tongue, painting the inside of his mouth cool and hot at once. Humans said blood tasted like copper, but for Kurogane it tasted like _Shizuka_ —like crisp, pure water. Each human tasted different. Shizuka's taste was one of the best things about him.

Only . . . he didn't taste as pure and clear as he usually did. Kurogane pulled his head back, ran his tongue over his teeth, and made a face. "Who have you been having sex with?" he complained. "They taste like—like _sunshine_ or _flowers_ or something. There's weird fucking _springtime_ shit in your system." He smacked his lips, and his eyes went wide with sudden amusement. "You've been sleeping with a _girl_."

Shizuka gave him an unimpressed look. "Are you thirsty or what?"

Kurogane went back to feeding with a shrug, but he remained curious. He gave Shizuka what pleasure he could, but a human not being held in thrall had needs and desires, and Kurogane rarely begrudged him any partners he chose. But this one tasted like freshness and innocence and Shizuka hadn't mentioned her. Weird enough that he might have to pull rank here and get to the bottom of it.

When he was done, Shizuka stood up and went to his desk, opening the top drawer to reveal a neatly arranged set of first aid supplies. He swabbed his arm with alcohol and pressed a wad of cotton to the wound. Kurogane rose up and grabbed the medical tape from his hands.

"I'll do it," he muttered, and quickly wrapped it around a few times to hold the cotton in place. "There, go lie down, I'll get you some water."

Shizuka looked amused. "I'm fine."

"Do it anyway."

"You only took a few ounces. What am I, a nightcap?"

Kurogane muttered little irritable nothings under his breath and pushed Shizuka back to the bed. "You're drinking water, and you're going to sleep. So shut up."

"Yes, Master," Shizuka said with a sly smile, shucking off his shirt and getting comfortable.

Kurogane scowled at him. He'd given his prey very few rules, apart from "don't tell anyone I'm a vampire" and "give me warning if you ever decide to leave." But Rule Number One was "don't call me Master." So naturally he called him Master at every given opportunity.

It was good for both of them, Kurogane mused as he went into the kitchen and got a bottle of water from the refrigerator. Reminded them that Shizuka could do as he liked.

"I've got someplace to go this week," Kurogane said when he came back in. "I've got to go see Fai."

There was a long, surprised moment of silence.

"Well, I gotta find him first. I know he's nearby, but—"

"I know where he lives. I'll take you there."

Kurogane stared at Shizuka, whose face was implacable. He had his mouth open to ask, but then . . . No. No, it was none of his business.

"Fine. This weekend, then," he said shortly, and turned again to go out.

"Goodnight, honey," Shizuka said in a sugary voice.

Maybe he really should make Shizuka a thrall. It was no good letting a guy like this keep his brain.

* * *

_It was on a crisp fall evening that Kurogane sat on a bench and watched people walk past him. He was at the local university and had no good reason to be there. He had haunted it constantly when Sayaka had attended there, keeping an eye on her and making sure she came to no harm. She probably knew he was there, but she never acknowledged him because she knew that was the way he wanted it._

_But Sayaka had graduated and gone, and here Kurogane still sat._

_He'd known a vampire once, about fifty years ago, who went to a different university every five or six years. He'd get a degree, take a year or two off, and then go and get another one. He collected them like postage stamps. Kurogane had run into him quite by accident, but had talked to him for hours because he had a lot of stories and Kurogane hadn't met many vampires before. It seemed his maker was wealthy beyond compare and funded his studies with no questions asked._

_It was only later that he realized how sad and sickening it was. The terrible fear of eternity that kept him locked in this frozen state, unwilling or unable to move forward or explore anything new. It was a different field of study, but it was always the same dusty old buildings with their dusty old professors. The vampire was afraid of ever moving from the routine. Afraid of the rest of his life. The hundreds and hundreds of endless years._

_And now it was Kurogane sitting here, watching them walk by him. It wasn't as though he were envious, thinking that he was seventeen and he ought to be walking among them. No, he had died at seventeen and he ought to be six feet under. He was here because he was bored and they were more interesting than the radio tonight._

_But he couldn't help thinking about the university-addicted vampire, and feeling sickened by himself._

_Then he'd seen her. Nineteen maybe, and certainly not old enough to be as drunk as she was. Coming from a house party and headed back to her dorm, most likely. She had blond hair cut into a pageboy, and she was as cute as a button. Her clothes weren't enough for the chilly night, but she didn't seem to notice, humming to herself as she made her way home. She looked a little wrecked, but happy. Must have been a good party._

_Something moved in the shadows in the corner of his eye. He knew better than to give himself away, so instead of turning quickly, he let out a breath and tried to look relaxed. He didn't move his head at all, just kept darting quick sideways glances at the place he'd seen something move._

_And he smelled it._

_Vampires._

_They didn't smell of blood, as he'd first assumed they would when he was younger. They smelled of stone. And Kurogane smelled two of them. He felt them, too, a darkness that throbbed like a headache building in your temples, if such a thing could happen without actually causing pain. He knew they were there, and he knew they were close. He tuned his ears to the shadows._

" _. . . such a lovely thing . . . kill her . . . just enthrall her . . . with us."_

" _no use for . . . have so many . . . dump the body?"_

_Kurogane carefully stretched his hands out, trying to keep them hidden by his legs as his claws sprang unbidden. He'd stopped a few of clumsy idiots from ruining each other's lives while drunk before, but this wasn't a drunk college boy getting too randy. There were at least two vampires, and he couldn't tell how old they were. They were discussing this girl like she was a fucking takeaway meal. He felt his fangs press against his lips, but he didn't try to control them. There was no way around this fight. He wouldn't walk away from something like this._

_How dare they come into his city?_

_Once the thought was there, it burned like a steady fire in his chest. This was his city, this was his university, this was his human girl, even when she was too drunk to sense her own danger. His girl. His place. His family lived here._

_He was nothing but a blur of movement when he launched himself into the shadows beneath the overhanging trees near the languages building. He grabbed the two vampires and knocked their heads together before they even bothered to react to his sudden appearance._

" _Who the hell are you?" he hissed._

_The two vampires scrambled to right themselves, crouching and letting their own claws and fangs slide out, but their eyes were still as much curious as angry._

" _We could ask you the same question," said the bolder of the two. He looked like a middle-aged man, physically fit but smaller than Kurogane. The woman at his side gave the appearance of being nearly the same age, and even more fit than he. He looked into both their eyes in turn, and realized with surprise that they were just babies. No more than thirty vampire years on them._

" _You look like you don't know any better," Kurogane said, relaxing marginally. "But a good vampire doesn't kill their prey, and especially not these days."_

_The smirks they tossed at him dissolved his calm and set his anger to boiling again. They knew perfectly well that killing humans was considered tawdry even among the more ruthless of their kind, and considered murder by the more reasonable. They just didn't care. Kurogane didn't know if they were the type of arrogant bastards who thought humans were nothing but cattle, or if they were just vicious animals, but it didn't matter._

" _Then let me explain something else," he growled, flexing his hands at his sides, feeling his words coming thick and heavy around his teeth. "This is my city, and you're poaching."_

_Their eyes narrowed, and the woman at least seemed to be thinking about that._

" _I want you out of my territory. Now."_

_There was a bark of laughter from the man._

" _Two against one, child," he said. His voice sounded smooth as silk and it felt like rough sandpaper, scraping over Kurogane's senses and setting his nerves on edge. Child? This little thing was an idiot. He still hadn't gotten over the human way of thinking. He still judged based on the age Kurogane appeared to be. But he was older than both of them combined, and he'd been stronger than them even when he was a mere thirty years._

_There was one niggling worry. He hadn't fed well recently. His most recent prey had stayed for a few weeks then asked to leave, and he'd let them go without a qualm. He could do something to his prey. Something that wasn't enthralling them. He could look into their eyes and make them . . . It wasn't forgetting him. It wasn't forgetting that they'd fed him. It was more like forgetting to think about it. He could make the knowledge of it sink so deeply into their subconscious that they'd never think about it again. It wasn't perfect. If somebody ever point-blank asked them if they'd ever seen a vampire, they'd say "yes." But it worked well enough. Vampires were nothing but a fairy tale, these days. He didn't usually worry when he set his prey free._

_So Kurogane was thirsty, and weaker than he should have been. That wasn't going to stop him, but it was a worry._

" _So perhaps we'll make this our territory, after we finish with you," the man said, his silky voice grating over Kurogane's ears._

_Damn him. The woman had wavered, but now she was steadying herself for the fight._

_Kurogane wasn't about to wait for them to strike first. He lashed out, grabbing hold of the woman and bearing her down. It was easy to see that it was she who had more fighting strength out of the two, and he needed to fight her while he had the most energy. She twisted in his grip and got her feet under her and bucked him off, but he'd gotten his claws into her arms and held on. Her skin ripped open as she tried to fling him away, and she yelped. Kurogane turned and kicked the man solidly in the chest, interrupting his attempt to jump on Kurogane from behind._

_The man flew into a tree and hit it with a crack that echoed in the streetlamp-yellow quiet. He didn't make any noise at all, sliding limply down into the dirt._

_The woman had gotten free of him in the meantime. Kurogane spun to face her. She clawed at his face, trying to get at his eyes. He turned his head in time to catch the blow with his cheek. He felt the flesh tear and grunted. He ducked under her next blow and grabbed her by the wrist. She tried to turn and break the hold, but he twisted her arm up behind her back. She whined at him and tried to kick, but he twisted until she was bent double, then he kneed her in the back and sent her to the ground. She immediately rolled away and sprang back up, but he'd been waiting for that, and he clubbed her in the temple with his fist, using her own momentum to add force to his blow. She went sprawling again._

_He briefly wondered what this looked like, if there were any casual passersby to see it. A dark blur under the trees, moving too fast for individual movements to be spotted by the naked eye. The sounds of grunting and hissing. Maybe they'd think it was a catfight. With really big cats._

_She swept his legs out of from under him, or at least she tried. He hopped right over her kick and landed in a crouch with his knee on her chest. He put his claws at her throat and looked her deeply in the eye._

" _I told you. This is my city. You will not trespass here again. You will warn others that this city is mine and not available to them. You will leave its people alone. Mine."_

_Her eyes were slightly glazed as she listened. She was young enough that he could practice his fledging ability to influence on her. You had to have a significant amount of power over another vampire before you could influence them and bend them to your will, and the only power Kurogane knew of was age._

_He let her go. "Now get out of here."_

_She jumped to her feet and ran. She couldn't run as fast as he could, he noticed critically. Not even when he'd been younger. It was not the first time he'd noticed that he was faster or stronger than others._

_Then something hit him in the back of the head. His face landed in the dirt and he groaned. Claws dug into the back of his neck, and he couldn't move unless he wanted his spine ripped out. The man he'd thought was stunned was kneeling on his back and had his claws deep into Kurogane's skin. He stayed very still._

" _Go ahead. Mesmerize me," the silken voice said, close enough to his ear that Kurogane felt the careful exhalation of breath. It was hard to speak naturally, and it took practice not to huff out air every time you did it. He'd always sounded like he'd just run a marathon, back when he'd first woken up needing to consciously remind himself to put air in his lungs when he wanted to talk._

_Obviously he couldn't influence without looking the other vampire in the eyes. But Kurogane was angry. Angry at himself, more than anything. He should have marked out his territory more carefully. He should have been more aggressive and imposing and scared them off without a fight. He should have found a new prey so he wasn't so weak tonight. He should have known better than to think this man was stunned and laying in the dirt. He should have been paying attention._

_If he lost this fight, this piece of shit was going to control the town where Kurogane's family lived. Those blonde twins that Chitose had, still chubby little toddlers, they slept tonight peacefully because he was supposed to keep them safe._

_He reached out, pushing his mind backwards in the same way he'd pushed it forwards into the woman. It was incredibly difficult without having the man's eyes as a focus. He had to buffet his own mind around looking for a purchase on the other's consciousness. But he found him. He pushed his influence in, and it caught fast in the man's. His weak, young, undefended little brain._

" _You will take your claws off me, child."_

_The last word came out sarcastically, and Kurogane grinned fiercely when the man obeyed. He could feel the tremble in the man's hands as he fought to resist the order, but the claws slid out of his skin. Kurogane immediately rolled them over, grappling with arms and legs and pinning the man to the ground._

" _Get the fuck out of my city," he said, using the man's eyes to go even deeper into him and twist his influence tight._

_The man whimpered. Kurogane pushed himself to his feet in one light motion, setting himself several feet back from the man. The other vampire immediately got up and started running. He didn't even look back. Kurogane tracked his retreat with a grin._

_A softly singing voice caught his attention. The girl he'd been trying to protect. The fight had happened so quickly that she wasn't even far away yet._

_Thirst spread like fire through Kurogane's chest, licking flames crawling up his throat. Normally thirst felt similar to the painful pinch of a hungry stomach. But this was fierce and hot. Kurogane had sprung from the shadows before he'd even realized what he'd done. His body was poised to bear the girl to the ground and drain her dry._

_His mind caught up to his body just in time, and he managed to turn his headlong rush to one side. He slammed palms-first against a wall, and stayed there. He held his breath and clenched his teeth tight. He pressed his face close to the bricks and pressed his hands against them. He focused all his will on staying where he was._

_She smelled so good. She smelled sweet like the alcohol she'd drunk and heavy like the pizza she'd had for dinner and rich and warm and salty and . . ._

_No. He ground his own face against the rough brick. Something pattered over his shoes, and he noticed in a distant way that his claws were digging into the wall and raining brick dust down on the ground._

_Then a new scent wafted over him. Pure and crisp, like cold spring water. It would tumble over his tongue like a mountain brook. His teeth were sharp on his lips and he was drooling. He was weak, and his body was desperate with craving. And the scent of cool water was coming closer and closer with each moment._

" _I saw some of it," a voice said, just behind him, soft and low. "I saw the fight."_

_Kurogane was trembling with stillness._

" _I know what you are, and I know what you did for that girl. And I know you're about to hurt her."_

_Kurogane was surprised enough that he turned his face just slightly to see who was speaking. A university-age young man, dark hair and eyes, simple clothes._

" _You know?" Kurogane grunted. Shit, speaking was a mistake. The breath he took for it carried the mingled scents of the two humans, and the fire in his chest was raging uncontrollably._

" _You're not the first vampire I've met," he said matter-of-factly. Like he was saying he'd seen a blue sky before or something. Then he said, "We need to get out of the light."_

_He grabbed Kurogane around the arm and pulled him. Kurogane was so surprised that he allowed it, following the young man's lead around the side of the building and into the shadows where the streetlamps didn't penetrate the landscaped bushes and trees._

_Then he pressed his back against the wall, tilted his head to one side, and said, "Drink."_

_Kurogane was up against him and had his fangs against his throat before the youth could blink. But he stopped himself there, shuddering, digging his claws into the wall again._

" _No. What. Why. Who are you."_

_He didn't have the ability to even make them questions. The warm skin of his neck was only an inch away, and Kurogane wanted it._

" _I just don't want that girl to get hurt. I know about vampires, so you aren't going to have to threaten me or kill me or anything. I'll feed you, and I'll keep your secret. Unless you've got a thrall who can get here sometime in the next two minutes."_

" _You can't know much," Kurogane said raggedly. "Or you'd know how dangerous it is to feed from the neck."_

_There was a flicker of surprise in his eyes, just the barest hint of fear. Then Kurogane couldn't help himself anymore, and he fell to his knees and buried his teeth in the young man's arm. He groaned in ecstasy. On one level, it was warm and salty and coppery like all blood. But deeper than that, where only a vampire could taste it, it was just very slightly sweet and just very slightly cold and it was exactly like a mountain spring. Kurogane shivered with relief as it cooled the fire in his throat and spread through him._

" _I'm Shizuka Doumeki, by the way."_

_He grunted in acknowledgement, but didn't lift his head, still sucking and swallowing greedily. He had to slow down. He could only take enough to take the edge off his thirst, to sustain him for a day or two. This man wasn't offering himself up to be drained. But he was so good._

" _We probably should call your thrall," the youth said, sounding slightly amused. "You seem like you haven't fed for a while."_

_Kurogane used the voice and the question to focus, to push himself back. He pulled his fangs free of skin and muttered, "I haven't. I don't keep a thrall. I had . . ." He licked at the blood trickling down his arm and sighed with pleasure. "Had a prey. Let them go. They wanted to go home."_

" _You just let your prey go whenever they ask?"_

_The words were slurred. Kurogane had to stop feeding. Now._

" _Of course I do," he said, letting the feeling of being affronted fill him up. Using it to break the spell of pleasure that feeding had laid over his mind. "They're not slaves. Whatever vampire you met before is a piece of shit if they told you any different."_

_His impromptu meal chuckled, but the sound was weak. He was very pale, and his knees were shaking as he leaned up against the wall. Kurogane suddenly realized that he couldn't hear the girl singing anymore. If she had gotten far enough away that he couldn't hear her, then she must have gotten home safely. The dorms weren't far from here._

" _Can you walk?" Kurogane asked roughly, getting to his feet and wiping the back of his hand over his mouth. He drew his fangs and claws in. He patted at his cheek where the woman had torn him open. It was healed over._

" _Maybe later," came the flippant reply. "Think I'll stay here for now."_

" _Don't be an idiot. I'll take you home."_

_Now that he was fed, it was no trouble to pick the man up in his arms and carry him._

" _Where do you live?"_

_Oh, swell. Wasn't that just fine? He'd passed out. There was only one thing to do, then. Kurogane took him back to his own home. He carefully cleaned and bandaged the bite, and spent the rest of the night trying to get the bloodstain out of Shizuka Doumeki's jeans._

_When he woke in the morning with no pants on in an unfamiliar bed, the young man's only question was whether or not Kurogane had any food in his house and if he was planning to make him breakfast because it seemed like the least he could do after Shizuka had fed him dinner._

_Kurogane hadn't laughed in a long time. Maybe that was why he asked Shizuka to stay._

* * *

Shizuka had a car, and he wanted to drive to Fai's house. Kurogane was not impressed by cars in general and didn't like riding in them, but there was little choice. While he might be able to traverse ten miles in ten minutes, Shizuka could not it was Shizuka who knew where they were going. He kept trying to convince Kurogane to learn how to drive the car, but Kurogane had no more interest in it than he had in television or cell phones. For one thing, it would be Chitose's name on everything like it was on the house, and it would start to look weird if she owned that much crap on the other side of town. For another, it just wasn't necessary. He didn't need any of it.

The car ride was mostly silent. That wasn't particularly unusual for them, but this time it was rather charged.

"So back in the beginning. The night we met. When you said you'd met other vampires before. You meant Fai, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"When did you meet him?"

"Just a couple of months before you."

That was their only attempt at conversation, and then Shizuka was parking the car in a neighbourhood not dissimilar to their own. At first Kurogane thought it was a joke. He'd been expecting to be led to some mansion, some kind of _estate_ , but instead he was standing on the sidewalk looking up at a well-kept and modestly-sized home. There were flowers growing in planter boxes outside the front windows, showing themselves golden and white and pink in the light spilling through the curtains. Hardly the place for a powerful vampire to be keeping half a dozen thralls in demeaning outfits and holding court over lesser kin.

Kurogane paused and gave Shizuka an unimpressed look. In the twilight, Shizuka's smirk reminded him of the Cheshire Cat from that movie the girls liked to watch. "Were we just gonna stand out here?" Shizuka asked lazily.

He was right. They shouldn't linger in the street, not even now that it was getting dark.

Kurogane grunted. "Just figuring out how to introduce myself," he muttered, striding up to the door with no further dithering and knocking on it sharply.

There was probably some kind of protocol for this. There was probably some formally written letter on old parchment he was supposed to send a week before his arrival. But fuck it. He just wanted to make sure that kid Yuzuriha wasn't getting taken advantage of, and he wanted to go home. He wasn't planning to take up much of Fai's time.

The door was opened by a short young lady with a delightful little face, round and with a pert nose and a dusting of freckles. She had red hair and she was adorable, and Kurogane scowled at her. She was older than Yuzuriha, at least.

"Who are you?"

She faltered and looked up at him with round eyes before answering, "I'm Lucia, I'm the housekeeper."

"Oh. Well, I'm here to see Fai. Is he available?"

The housekeeper immediately shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not, he's currently quite occupied. Would you like to come back . . . Um. Next week?"

"Next week?" Kurogane repeated in disbelief. "Is he away or something?"

"I'm afraid that's private," Lucia said testily, drawing herself up to the full of her not-very-impressive height.

"Any chance we could leave a message for him?" Shizuka spoke up from behind him, sounding shrewd. "My master has some urgent business for him."

Kurogane was tempted to enthrall this man or get rid of him far more often than he was really comfortable with. Shizuka didn't have any idea why they were here, because Kurogane hadn't told him, so he was talking out of his ass. Not to mention he'd referred to Kurogane as his damn _master_ , and not as a joke in the privacy of their house either.

"Lucia , who's at the door? Is there a problem?"

A blond man was coming into view, appearing from around the corner in another room. He was blond, his steps were slow and careful and he looked rather frail and nearly gray. He was sweaty and his lips were pale, and he clung to the wall for support. Kurogane recognized the look of a human who had been all but drained during a feeding.

Lucia looked panicked for a moment, turning around and dropping her head in a show of deference. "No, sir, it's only a visitor for Master Fai, they're going to leave a message—"

The smell of the frail blond man slammed into Kurogane with the force of a train. He smelled _divine_. Kurogane had never been so thirsty in his life, not the night he'd met Shizuka, not any night, his thirst was _staggering_ and his throat _ached_ and his fangs shot free without any prompting. He was bounding across the room, unable to stop himself, panicking even as he drove forward, desperate for just a _taste_ of that incredible smell, his eyes just as wide as the drained human's—

The man took him down with a simple martial arts throw, with nothing more than a hand on his collar and a leg swept out for him to be forced over. It never would have worked if Kurogane hadn't been so single-mindedly focused on the smell of his blood, but something about the shock of landing on his back managed to startle him out of his instinctual need to slake the aching thirst. He stayed on the ground, blinking up at the man as he leaned heavily against the wall.

"It's hardly polite to drink from prey in another vampire's house," he said coldly. "Leaving aside whether or not you are civilized enough to ask me before sinking your teeth in."

Kurogane hadn't been so overwhelmed by thirst since he'd first woken one hundred and eleven years ago. He had no idea what had just happened, losing control like that. He'd just fed from Shizuka yesterday. But the man smelled like . . . like . . . Still trying to figure that out, Kurogane just stayed there on the floor and looked at the man. He was on the tall side, lithe-looking, dressed simply but crisply in trousers and shirt. He had crow's feet around his eyes, and laugh lines around his mouth. His hair was gathered at his neck in a small tail, and was shot through with silver that glinted in the light.

"I am Yuui," the man suddenly said, finding something amusing apparently since he grinned. "And I would offer to help you up but I rather think that I would only end up on the floor beside you."

His voice was very precise and carried a foreign accent. Kurogane could barely think past the thirst, but he he had to get himself under control, _now._ He quickly got to his feet and wondered what on earth he was supposed to say.

"Sorry," he said at last, fiddling with straightening out his shirt. "That's never— I don't normally do things like that."

"I'm inclined to forgive you since I am quite unable to muster the energy for anything else," the man named Yuui said, smiling with his pale lips.

Kurogane and Yuui seemed to figure out at the exact same moment that Yuui was about to faint, because when Yuui said "oh," in a soft voice, Kurogane was already reaching out and catching him. He wasted no time, sweeping the taller man into his arms and carrying him over to the sofa.

"Get a glass of soda or juice—something with sugar," Kurogane barked at the hovering housekeeper. He laid the man out on the sofa carefully, seeing as he did that there was a wound still bleeding sluggishly at his neck. He took off his jacket and put it beneath Yuui's head and shoulders so he wouldn't get blood on the upholstery. He carefully didn't breathe, trying not to smell it, trying to ignore the powerful urge to lick at the wound and open it back up and finish the job someone else had started. "Hey, just stay still, you're gonna be fine," he said, looking down into glazed, dull blue eyes. He pressed his hand over the bite on his neck.

"Yes, I know," Yuui answered slowly and slurred. "I've got some practice, you see."

"You've got practice with nearly getting killed?" Kurogane snarled. "What the fuck do you _stay_ for, then? You're not a thrall." You could always tell a thrall, and Yuui clearly wasn't one.

"Well, I will admit we have not cut it this close before," Yuui said faintly, closing his eyes. "But it was a bit of an emergency, unfortunately."

Really, between the accent—French?—and the slurring, Kurogane could barely understand him.

"Stop talking and lie still," Kurogane ordered him. The housekeeper returned with the juice, and Kurogane immediately sent her away again for blankets and pillows. Yuui's nail beds were blue and he was clammy with sweat, and Kurogane knew if he went into shock he'd have to go to a hospital and that was not really an option. He chafed Yuui's hands and forearms in his hands. "Shizuka, get his shoes off and do this with his legs."

Shizuka did so immediately, and the minute the blankets and pillows arrived, Kurogane directed the pillows under Yuui's feet to elevate his legs and he himself tucked the blankets around the man. He sat with Yuui's head in his lap, pressing his hand over the bite and then after he'd sent the housekeeper scurrying off for a third time, cleaning it with alcohol and bandaging it carefully. He gave Yuui juice in small sips, holding him gently and trying not to touch the bite. He sent Lucia away yet again to find a bottle of iron supplements and directed Shizuka to crush one up and mix it into the juice. It wouldn't be of much help, but he doubted there were bags of saline drip in the linen closet, so he did his best.

Yuui's colour didn't improve, but he did stop sweating. Kurogane continually roused him when his eyes tried to slip shut to make him drink more. After a while, when it seemed that Yuui wouldn't go into shock after all, Kurogane finally slowed his frantic treatment enough to say,

"So, Fai did this to you?"

It confirmed his worst suspicions about the vampire.

Yuui looked grieved by the question, though. "He didn't mean to," he whispered, even his voice weak and pale. "He needed as much power as he could get to keep Rondart from escaping."

"Rondart? What? Who's Rondart?"

"Kyle Rondart. The murderer Fai's trying to keep locked up in the bedroom," Yuui sighed.

" _What_?"

"He's a vampire, and he committed a grave crime," Yuui explained, sounding so utterly exhausted that Kurogane almost felt guilty for pressuring him to speak. "Fai has the power and standing to pass judgment on him, but he's hoping to convince Rondart to take a knee and pledge loyalty instead. He needed to be as strong as possible to keep a hold on him. Kusanagi's on his way over, hopefully bringing his vampire neighbour. Once we have three, we can take care of the problem one way or the other."

Yuui was just babbling, hardly capable of controlling his own words, his head lolling listlessly in Kurogane's lap. He gave a start when Yuui mentioned Kusanagi's neighbour, but Yuui didn't appear to notice. Yuui wasn't making much sense anyway. Pledge loyalty? Pass judgment? Once they had three what, vampires? Why?

Shizuka was a silent presence at Yuui's feet, still quietly chafing his skin to keep him warm and try to encourage blood flow. He hadn't said a word, and Kurogane had a sudden suspicion that he knew more about all this than Kurogane did. Kurogane tried to meet his eyes, but he was being deliberately difficult.

"I remember you," Yuui said suddenly, looking down at Shizuka. "I remember you very well, because your dreams were so troubling to Fai." He looked up into Kurogane's face with new eyes. "This must be the one."

Shizuka kept up his ministrations, even as he was shaking his head. "No, it's not him. But he's part of it, I think."

"And the girl?"

"Found her," Shizuka answered, and something went soft in his eyes for a moment. Kurogane didn't believe it. He hadn't even had a chance to press Shizuka for information on the girl, and then this total stranger who was on the verge of dying in his lap seemed to know about her. And more than that, he'd never seen such an expression on his prey's face. Shizuka _loved_ this girl, didn't he?

"Don't suppose there's any _chance_ ," Kurogane growled, "of you telling me what the _hell_ this is all about."

Yuui's eyes flicked back up to him, seeming startled. "You don't know?"

"Why would I ask if I knew?" Kurogane snapped.

"I thought Kusanagi might have at least told you about Fai," Shizuka answered. "But I guess you really _don't_ know."

Kurogane all but bared his fangs, impatient and frustrated.

"Fai can read people's dreams," Shizuka explained. "He can very nearly divine your future from them. But he can't do it with other vampires, only with humans. So when he looks into your dreams and can't see much, that's when you know you're going to be caught up in the vampire's world."

"So . . . He's looked into your dreams," Kurogane said slowly.

"Yeah."

"What did he see?"

"Just Himawari," Shizuka said, his hands having gone still at last. "I knew I'd meet her and fall for her. Everything else was just . . . darkness."

Kurogane thought a lot of things in that moment. He really wondered what sort of improbable creature Fai was, being able to visit people's futures in their dreams. He clearly wasn't above draining his own prey for the sake of power, which predisposed Kurogane to not like him. This dreams business was creepy as hell, even for vampires. But mostly, he just looked at Shizuka's face and wondered not for the first time what sort of man his prey really was. Incredibly brave, incredibly stupid, or more than likely both.

He might have even said something, but two things happened almost simultaneously and there wasn't really time to talk after that. First, Yuui sighed softly and finally passed out. He was breathing better, so Kurogane didn't try to rouse him. Only a second later, someone pounded on the door, and Lucia went scurrying over to let Kusanagi in.


	2. a different breed

  
Part Two

_spare me your judgments and spare me your dreams_  


 

The wind was in his hair and rushing past his ears. The night was warm and the smell of eucalyptus leaves was heavy as he searched for the scent he was tracking.  His long legs kicked at thin air as he bounded from rooftop to rooftop.  The stars were obscured overhead but the lights of the city flashed past his eyes with dizzying speed.  
  
His quarry was below.  
  
He gathered all his speed and when his feet touched the lip of the roof of the coin laundry, he launched himself out, high, above the street, and he tucked his arms in close to his sides and the air swirled around him—and he laughed.  The sound of his delight carried down the street and fell on the ears of his quarry as it ran pell-mell through alleyways, tipping over garbage bins and kicking trash behind it.  Foolish.  He was not giving chase on the ground.  
  
He barely cleared the street to land on the other side, but his feet found purchase on the crumbling edge of the library’s rooftop and he immediately bounded forward so his momentum could not cause him crash on the landing.  He was closer now.  
  
His blood was high and he laughed and laughed. He could not help it.  He loved the hunt.  
  
He caught up with his quarry.  They looked up as they ran, and saw him high above, and they stumbled for a moment and he saw with his sharp eyes the fear in theirs.  He bounded ahead a little and then he swung himself down from the top of the post office with grace and landed lightly on his feet.  He was not in front of the one he hunted, because they had veered down another alley.  But he gave chase and his own speed was greater than theirs, and he caught up quickly.  
  
Then he whistled sharply.  
  
His companion thumped down into the street just ahead of the quarry.  The slender figure reeled back and in the moment of indecision, knowing that the hunters were on both sides and there was nowhere to run, that was when he made his move.  He leapt forward, light and quick, and sunk his teeth into the back of his quarry’s neck.  
  
The young-looking man let out a short cry, but he didn’t move.  
  
“I am Fai,” he muttered against his quarry’s neck.  “You know of me.  Yield now and come quietly.”  
  
The glory of the hunt was thundering in his ears, his chest, his mind was all bright and sharp and the taste of this creature was on his tongue, and he felt his teeth digging in deeper despite himself.  He could tear this filthy killer limb from limb and dance in the ashes when the body crumbled.  
  
 _Brother, have a care_ , a voice spoke in his ear.  A high, lilting voice that fell over his mind like a pale shaft of sunlight in the shadow of trees.  _I know not what you are doing, but you are losing yourself.  Do nothing you will regret._  
  
He had tied himself carefully to Suu so that she could always feel when he began to lose control and she could call him back.  He always heard her voice when he could hear nothing else.  
  
 _Thank you, my sweet one._  
  
Then he turned his attention to the vampire who was struggling feebly to slide his own flesh off Fai’s teeth.  
  
“You are charged with reckless murder, and I would know your name.”  
  
The vampire spat in the dirt.  Kusanagi stepped forward and cuffed the insolent creature on the head.  The vampire snarled at him and finally managed to get away from Fai without harming himself.  Laughable.  Kusanagi fetched him another blow to the head, although he twisted to the side almost fast enough to escape it.  It still grazed him and left him reeling just long enough for Fai to grab him by a shoulder and spin him around to look into his eyes.  
  
“You are mine, now, you mindless bloodthirsty beast.  Tell me your name.”  
  
“Kyle Rondart,” the vampire said slowly, unhappily.  He was bowing to Fai’s influence, but he retained enough of himself to show that he was unwilling.  
  
Fai knew that name, and he had to clamp down tightly to avoid showing his surprise.  No matter what, he had a job to do.  No matter what, there was a murderer in front of him.  
  
“Do you deny that you killed Adam Matthews, Harrison Matthews, and Katherine Matthews?  Do you deny that you have taken Theresa Matthews unwilling and enthralled her?”  
  
“I fed,” Rondart replied, spitting again into the dirt at their feet.  “And I must continue to eat.  As all vampires must.”  
  
Fai pressed his influence closer, but it was harder work with this one than it was with lesser vampires.  Rondart was slippery and his mind felt disgusting.  It was like reaching your hand into a pumpkin and trying to grab a fistful of seeds, feeling the cold squish as they shot out sideways from your grip.  Fai couldn’t help his grimace of distaste.  
  
“Kusanagi, let’s take him back.  Hold onto him.  I’ve got him now, but he might escape me.”  
  
He was able to hold the connection without maintaining eye contact, walking behind Kusanagi as he frog-marched Kyle Rondart toward the car that waited for them.  But it was difficult, and he was drained before they were halfway back to his home.  He couldn’t hold the connection forever.  Fai had never had a problem maintaining influence over vampires as much as twice his age, but Rondart’s own lineage was providing him with an advantage that Fai had not foreseen.  
  
He needed to speak to Suu, but he could not maintain his hold on the vampire at the same time he reached out to his sister.  
  
“Hold him tight, Kusanagi,” he murmured, and let his mind wander far, looking for the mental equivalent of dappled sunlight through trees and finding her quickly.  She had left her mind open to him, obviously concerned for whatever he was doing.  
  
 _Call Mother. Tell her I have need of her. It’s urgent._  
  
 _Brother, what have you done?_  
  
 _Call her, Suu._  
  


* * *

  
  
Fai stood in front of the chair where Kyle Rondart sat and neither of them moved.  
  
He felt aching and cramped.  They’d been like this for hours.  Fai had realized quickly that he’d never be able to maintain the control he needed over Rondart long enough for Mother to arrive.  It wasn’t some low-level maintenance of influence he could exert as he went about his daily routine.  He had to stay in this room and never waver.  The way Rondart’s mind twisted to try to get out from under Fai’s careful pressure was much more clever and subtle than Fai was used to.  It was less like wrestling a wild animal on a leash, and more like trying to catch mist in his hands.  
  
It didn’t help that Rondart was _slime_ and Fai hated having to look at him.  Unfortunately, taking his eyes off him for more than a minute was out of the question.  
  
If Rondart were not the foul creature that he was, Fai would have used these hours locked away in this small room to indulge in curiosity and study him.  He had never been in close contact with a child of Fei Wang Reed’s before, and he was curious as to how they might differ from one another.  He was more powerful than Rondart, but just barely.  He was interested, but not enough to examine someone who was capable of the slaughter Rondart had committed.  
  
And he could hardly afford the distraction.  There was no way they could wait for Mother.  It could take her days.  A week.  He couldn’t keep this up for a week, and even if he could there was no way Yuui could keep feeding him as often as he needed to maintain this.  He could feed from Lucia in an emergency, but that wouldn’t sustain him for long.  
  
Yuui.  He’d taken too much blood from Yuui, and he knew it.  Yuui was in danger.  But no, he couldn’t afford to worry.  Lucia would take care of him.  He’d be fine.  
  
He’d sent Kusanagi away to find his neighbour, the vampire Kurogane.  They needed a third to pass judgment, and Kurogane was the only other vampire in their area.  Kusanagi hadn’t stopped talking about him since they’d run into each other.  He didn’t seem to know _anything_ about his own kind, as if he hadn’t spent a day of the last hundred years in their company, and he didn’t seem to trust them in the least.  But from what Kusanagi had said, he’d be a valuable ally if they could win him over, and so Fai had counseled him to approach as casually as possible, feed him information and befriend him without overwhelming him.  
  
But this?  This was not the ideal way to bring him into the fold.  
  
The whole thing was making him feel weary, more than just the drain of his energy and power.  It was his duty to punish the crimes that Rondart had committed, as the child of his Mother, but he was more than a criminal, he was the child of an old enemy.  No matter how Fai punished Rondart, he was going to be touching off a scandal and sorting out the political implications was going to take years.  It was a nightmare, but he had no choice.  
  
Not when the other choice was letting him go.  
  
“You look tired,” Rondart sneered.  He was sitting in a comfortable armchair, looking for all the world as though the two of them were simply lounging about.  But Fai’s mind was wrapped tightly around his.  Rondart might be clever and slippery, but he was still under Fai’s influence as the more dominant vampire in the room.  He couldn’t have gotten up even if he’d wanted to, but at the moment he didn’t seem to be trying.  “Why don’t you go get some rest?  Or at least go check up on that human of yours—it seemed like you took so much blood.”  
  
Whispers of fear about Yuui were too distracting, so he brushed them aside.  For all he wanted nothing more than to run to Yuui, to apologize, to care for him and ensure he was safe . . . The minute he left this room, Kyle would free himself and run.  Fai had to trust that Yuui and Lucia were intelligent enough to handle it.  
  
In addition to ignoring his own worry, he was doing his best to ignore the _thrill_ of being so full of vitality and power.  It felt amazing, like light was pulsing just below his skin.  And that made him sick, his gut twisting in horror.  It was _wrong_ , so utterly wrong, to feel this good from nearly killing what he loved most.  He hadn’t felt so wickedly powerful in many years.  He hated it.  He wished Ashura were here.  It had been a long time since he’d heard Ashura’s gentle words, guiding him to accept what he was without changing _who_ he was, and he missed the confidence and peace in his spirit that his time with Ashura had given him.  
  
“You shouldn’t keep a human who can’t handle—”  
  
“ _Ta geule_ ,” Fai snapped.  
  
Rondart’s attitude changed, a lazy grin stealing over his face at the obvious sign he’d gotten under Fai’s skin.  His legs shifted, and he almost stood up.  Fai tamped down ferociously on his emotions and focused on his task.  He bore down hard on the other vampire’s mind.  He was treading a very fine line—he could exert the whole of his power and reduce Rondart to a jibbering wreck, but then he’d be the one who’d committed a crime, and he’d possibly wind up a jibbering wreck himself.  He had to keep this piece of garbage imprisoned, but still in control of his own mind.  If vampires could sweat, Fai would have been dripping with it.  
  
Someone knocked on the door.  It had to be Kusanagi at last, since he’d told Lucia to stay out of here and not disturb him under any circumstances.  
  
“Enter,” he said tersely.  
  
Kusanagi came in, followed by what had to be his neighbour.  Fai spared a glance for him.  His youthful face and slender build made him look hardly  more than a child, but there was a depth and breadth to his shoulders that indicated he’d have grown up to be quite a sizable man indeed, if his growth hadn’t been arrested by his death.  He was certainly past one hundred years, though not by much, Fai didn’t think.  
  
He was handsome.  And he looked angry enough to tear all three of them apart.  
  
“Interesting stroke of luck,” Kusanagi said, flicking his eyes over Rondart with disgust while addressing Fai.  “I couldn’t find him, but turns out that’s because he was already here.  Seemed he planned to introduce himself to you.  Couldn’t have picked a better time, although it would have saved me a couple of hours of looking for him if I’d known about it.”  
  
Fai took a deep breath of the air from the hallway and frowned.  “There’s a human out there.”  
  
“My prey,” the new vampire answered, straightening up his shoulders like he was ready for a fight.  
  
“You brought your prey to another vampire’s house?” Fai asked, feeling slightly amused.  He really didn’t know anything at all, did he?  
  
“Yeah, well, he says he knows you.”  
  
Fai scented with more attention to detail, which wasn’t hard.  The other vampire carried the smell of the human, and it was a smell he recognized.  This human had troubled him deeply in the past.  “Oh,” he said, looking over Kusanagi’s neighbour with fresh appreciation.  So this was the source of the darkness in Shizuka Doumeki’s dreams, was it?  
  
. . . or . . . not.  Fai frowned. He couldn’t stop looking over the younger vampire, as though he was hiding some kind of mystery in his clothes or behind his eyes.  This wasn’t the source of Doumeki’s problems, after all.  Fai was sure he would have felt it, somehow.  This vampire _was_ important, he _was_ the one who filled in some of the blank spaces in Doumeki’s mind, but he wasn’t . . . all of it.  Fai felt sure he would have known immediately if Kurogane could account for the utter darkness that swallowed Doumeki up when he slept.  He didn’t, and yet . . .  Fai couldn’t help feeling as though some important question had been answered nonetheless.  He didn’t know what it was, and he caught himself raking his eyes over the other vampire too intensely.  He didn’t like this feeling of being given the answer to a question when he hadn’t asked one.  
  
And in that moment, his concentration was broken.  Rondart leapt from the armchair and tried to speed right past them. But the young vampire that had caught Fai’s attention was even faster.  He grabbed Rondart up by the shirt and flung him back into the armchair.  
  
Fai acted quickly, leaning over and making eye contact and _shoving_ on Rondart’s mind.  “You will stay seated until I tell you to rise,” he growled.  Kyle went completely slack for a moment, and the power of being so thoroughly fed throbbed in Fai’s body.  He turned again to Kurogane.  “Thank you for your assistance, Mister . . .”  It was a mere formality, but Fai liked formalities.  
  
The black-haired man rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.  “Kurogane.  I was told this one is a criminal.  Seemed like a bad idea to let him leave.”  
  
“Indeed he is,” Fai said crisply, “I am Fai, by the way.  Now that the two of you are here, let us proceed with all haste.  As evidenced, I cannot hold him forever.”  
  
“What do you need me for?”  
  
Fai blinked at Kurogane in surprise.  “A judgment cannot be passed without three vampires in agreement.”  He turned his surprised expression on Kusanagi.  “You said he knew nothing, but I didn’t realize you meant _not a damn thing at all_.”  
  
Kusanagi shrugged.  “Well, after he got made and got left behind by his maker, seems like he stuck close to his human family instead of looking for other vampires.  He’s hardly had contact.  He told me he’s only met about half a dozen, not including us.”  
  
Fai gaped at him for a moment.  It was already unheard of for a maker to abandon their child, and he had been intensely interested in trying to find Kurogane’s.  But to think he didn’t even _know_ any vampires . . .  
  
“Don’t look at me like it’s my fault,” Kurogane muttered, scowling.  “I didn’t ask to be made.  So, what, we all have to agree about how we’re going to sentence this guy, and then we just do it?  Is that how it works?”  
  
“That’s the short version,” Fai said, unable to help a small smile.  “You can’t gather any mere three vampires, although in an emergency situation you might be able to make the case for such an action.  It’s because my own maker is quite a powerful figure in the vampire world, and I’ve been given authority by her to act on her behalf.”  
  
“Oh,” was all Kurogane said, but Fai felt the weight of his eyes as he turned back to Rondart.  He was sizing Fai up, and for some reason he didn’t mind the presumption.  Kurogane occupied such a unique space.  He was judging Fai without understanding who he was or any of the implications of what they were doing tonight.  Fai even felt . . . He struggled to identify the feeling.  Anxious.  He felt anxious about what Kurogane would decide.  He’d never had the chance to know before how he might appear to an outsider.  
  
“Stand up, Kyle Rondart,” Fai said, some of the anxiety fading into the background of his thoughts as he slipped into this familiar role.  “I will lay the charges before us to allow for complete understanding.  Two weeks ago, you became interested in Theresa Matthews and began to harass her in her home and her place of work.  Nine days ago, you attacked the Matthews family.  You killed her husband Adam Matthews.  You killed her nine year old daughter Katherine Matthews.  You killed her seven year old son Harrison Matthews.  You carelessly left the bodies behind to be discovered by human law enforcement.  You abducted Theresa Matthews against her will and enthralled her against her will.  Do you deny that any one of these actions was yours?”  
  
Fai kept half an eye on Kurogane as he spoke.  He watched Kurogane’s face get darker and his scowl get deeper, and his lip curled in disgust when he looked at Rondart.  Good.  He knew Kusanagi was in agreement with him, but it had to be unanimous between the three of them.  
  
Rondart’s answer was to bare his teeth menacingly.  “What I deny is your authority in this matter, Fai Fluorite.  You have no power over me.”  
  
“I have authority over any of our kin who transgress in my territory,” he answered calmly.  “Whose child you are makes no difference.”  
  
“You are no kin of mine,” Rondart spat.  “It makes all the difference.  I do not agree to your laws.”  
  
“Then do not come into my territory!” Fai shouted, losing his temper for a moment, taking a step forward.  A hand on his shoulder held him back.  He looked at it with surprise.  Kurogane.  Kurogane seemed surprised, too, releasing him with a shrug.  
  
He regulated his voice.  “You knew that your actions were a punishable offense here, did you not?”  
  
Rondart hissed at him.  
  
“ _Did you not_?” Fai asked more viciously, pressuring him with influence.  
  
“Yes,” Rondart muttered sullenly.  And then his eyes flicked around wildly, his mind flickering as well.  It wasn’t deceit, but it was some kind of evasion.  Fai could not spare the energy to chase it.  
  
“My sentencing is thus: final death.  The stake.  You are to be executed for your crimes,” Fai said calmly.  “Unless there is one of our kin who will intercede on your behalf.  If so, you will bend the knee to your intercessor and pledge twenty years of service.  If not, the execution is scheduled for dawn.”  Dawn was still the proper time for these things.  
  
Rondart’s face grew darker and darker as he spoke, and then he spat at Fai’s feet.  “Bend the knee?  Like you did, you piece of shit?  Crawl for one of lesser birth simply to save your own skin?  Crawl for a disgrace like _Ashura_?”  
  
Fai bounded forward and struck Rondart backhanded across the cheek, this time too fast for Kurogane to restrain him.  His chest was tight.  “I will not hear his name cross your filthy lips,” he hissed.  “I served and I learned the error of my ways, and I have been given much in return.  There is no shame in serving one who has mastered themselves.  So, Kyle: will you bend the knee to an intercessor?”  
  
Rondart’s eyes swept the room exaggeratedly, taking in stolid Kusanagi with his arms crossed by the door, and Kurogane with his look of deep disgust just behind Fai.  “And where am I to find an intercessor by dawn, fool?”  
  
Fai felt weary, impossibly weary, as he spread his arms from his sides, just a little.  “Here, Kyle Rondart,” he said, and he actually felt Kurogane stiffening with surprise behind him.  Their minds were attuning to each other eerily fast.  “Pledge me twenty years, and I will not execute you.  Give me twenty years of your immortality, and I will help you walk a better path.”  
  
He was echoing almost word-for-word what had been said to him, long ago.  _A better path_.  It had called him out of darkness and bloodlust and brought him back to his family.  Kyle Rondart, though . . . It would take him far from his.  
  
“No,” Rondart said.  
  
“Then we will wait for my dame,” Fai said, keeping his voice even despite the way he wanted to plead with Rondart.  “She will accept your service as I would.”  And give him hell for it for the next hundred years, no doubt, but she would do it.  To see one of Fei Wang Reed’s children turn aside from butchery and rape would cause a stir in their world, indeed.  
  
“No,” Rondart spat.  “I will not bow and scrape to the likes of you or your blood.  I will not.  And you will not dare to execute me.  You will not dare to risk the life of your own brother.  My sire will retaliate and you know it.  Your brother is lost the moment you drive the stake home.”  
  
Fai was terribly, terribly good at not showing his emotions to others.  But the mask he wore began to crack at Rondart’s words.  His brother, lost to them for so many years.  His brother, at the right hand of Fei Wang Reed.  
  
“Wouldn’t that start a war or something?” Kurogane spoke up behind him.  Fai jerked in surprise.  “I mean, this is like a court judgment right?  So it’s all legal.  But if his father killed your brother to retaliate, wouldn’t that be a crime too?”  
  
The question was what Fai needed to ground himself, to think past the fear Rondart had instilled in him.  Of course.  Fei Wang Reed would not dare.  Things were imbalanced enough already with his brother serving at Reed’s side.  He would never tip the balance so far.  
  
Fai was tipping the balance rather dangerously, himself.  But he was acting within his rights to punish crimes in his territory, and they all knew it.  He had two witnesses and Kyle himself had acknowledged his crime.  
  
And he had seen them.  Little Harrison Matthews with his chest torn open and pretty little Katherine with her bright hair spilled over the ground and splashed with blood.  He’d crouched on a rooftop high above watching the forensic team set up around the bodies, and he’d seen the blood of children spilled on the ground.  
  
Fai steeled himself, hardened his heart against the fear that Reed would hurt his brother.  “My judgment stands, Kyle Rondart.  You will pledge me twenty years, or we will execute you at daybreak. You have . . . three hours to decide.”  
  
Rondart grinned.  “Unless you drain that cute little thing who keeps your house, you don’t have the strength to hold me for three more hours.”  
  
Fai froze.  
  
“He’s not the only one holding you here.”  
  
Fai turned to look at Kurogane in shock.  This man had no idea about vampire hierarchy and stepping on anyone’s toes, stumbling over tradition so clumsily that it should have been painful but instead Fai had never been so grateful in his life.  
  
“You think either of us is gonna let you past us, after what you did?” Kurogane growled, gestured to himself and Kusanagi, who quickly covered up surprise with a hard implacability.  “Try to leave this room.  I dare you.”  
  
Rondart took him at his word.  Fai had relaxed his grip on Rondart’s mind to be sure he was not influencing his decision, and Kyle now slid himself sideways out of Fai’s influence entirely, and he was a blur of speed as he ran for the window.  
  
Kurogane was faster.  He bounded past Fai and grabbed Rondart by the shirt and flung him to the floor.  He placed his foot on Rondart’s neck and bent close over him.  “You killed children, you bastard.  You’re gonna pay for that.”  
  
Rondart put his claws into Kurogane’s leg, but the young vampire didn’t even flinch.  Rondart used the grip to twist Kurogane’s leg sideways and throw him off.  Kurogane hit the wall, but he got himself between Rondart and the window as he did so.  Rondart bared his teeth in frustration.  Kurogane grinned, all fang.  
  
Kusanagi had scooted sideways to make sure he was standing fully in front of the door. Fai felt a wash of gratitude warming his chest.  He’d gotten lucky.  Not just two witnesses but two allies.  After the hours spent mentally wrestling with Rondart, he was losing the steady throb of power from Yuui, but between the three of them they could easily keep Rondart caged.  Fai could have wept with relief.  
  
And so they did.  None of them spoke and felt no need to move, either.  All four of them stood in complete silence, and Fai gave up trying to hold his influence on Rondart.  He was too weary, and Rondart was no longer trying to escape.  It was an hour before dawn that Rondart spoke.  
  
“He didn’t ask me.  I didn’t have a choice.”  
  
He had been sitting in the armchair again, with his shoulders bent and his elbows braced on his knees, looking at the ground.  He kept his eyes there, his hands clenched together at his knees.  
  
“My sire.  He made me, but I didn’t want it.  I never wanted to be . . . this.”  
  
At first, Fai feared a trap, feared that Rondart was trying to influence one of the other two, worried that he was distracting them for one last escape attempt.  But his shoulders were hunched and his feet were loose on the floor.  
  
“I cannot bend the knee to you, Fai Fluorite,” Rondart said slowly.  “My sire . . . I can’t.”  He finally looked up, and his eyes were nothing but hollows.  “Is it dawn yet?”  
  
“My family would protect you,” Fai said softly.  
  
“No.  I choose final death,” Rondart said.  “Come, it must be close to daybreak.  Close enough.”  
  
Fai wanted to argue, he wanted to try again, he wanted to slip inside the defeated mind before him and make him a puppet on a string and force him to say the words that would bind him to Fai for twenty years.  He wanted anything, anything but this.  But Kusanagi was already opening the door, and Kurogane was lifting Rondart out of the chair by one arm, supporting half his weight because Rondart was so limp and yielding.  
  
“Come on,” Kurogane said to Fai.  “If that’s his choice then let’s get on with it.”  
  
Fai nodded, and led the way outside.  Lucia loved to garden, and he hated to get ash on her flowers, but they couldn’t very well do this in the house.  He broke the branch from a tree that hung close to the back porch.  You couldn’t just use any stake, no mere piece of plywood, and it couldn’t be metal like a sword.  It had to be a living thing.  It was the intrusion of something natural and alive into their strange, unnatural bodies that did it, and the branch was the easiest way to intrude so.  He couldn’t even wait long before the vitality would go out of the branch and leave it ineffective.  
  
The sky was still grey and the sun still shying away behind the horizon, but Fai spoke the formal words anyway.  
  
“Here under the light of the sun which dispels shadows, you are judged.  We judge you thrice.”  He paused, waiting.  
  
“Guilty,” Kusanagi said after a moment.  
  
The second pause was far longer.  “Guilty,” came Kurogane’s voice grudgingly.  
  
“Guilty,” Fai finished for them.  “And now you are sentenced, and so let it be done.”  He twirled the branch and raised it, and then drew it close to his chest so they might not see his hands tremble.  He looked up into the hollow eyes of a man in despair.  “Kyle,” he whispered desperately.  
  
“Just do it,” was his answer, arms loose at his sides.  
  
“Hold him,” Fai commanded.  
  
“No,” Kurogane answered, even while Kusanagi began to step forward.  “He doesn’t need to be held.  Let him have his dignity.”  
  
Kyle even dropped to his knees to make it easier.  So Fai rushed forward in a blur and drove the branch straight into his chest without another moment’s hesitation, pushing it all the way through him and into the earth, pinning him to the well-tended grass of their backyard.  The force of his drive forward made it hard to stop, and he ended up on his knees beside the pinioned vampire.  
  
Kyle immediately began to flake away.  His eyes were closed.  
  
“I did not wish for this,” Fai whispered.  
  
Kyle didn’t even open his eyes.  “I did not wish to see my bride murdered on our honeymoon and to be turned against my will simply because I was wealthy and my sire wanted my holdings,” he murmured.  “Try not to put too much stock in wishing, Fai Fluorite.”  
  
Then his body caved inward and crumbled, and he fell as a heap of ash and immediately began to scatter away on the wind.  Fai stayed on his knees, watching bits of Kyle Rondart disappear into the light of the rising sun.  
  
“You should go home, Kusanagi,” he said after a long silence.  “Thank you for all the help you’ve been tonight, but you should go.  Yuzuriha will be awake soon.”  
  
“Mmmph,” Kusanagi grunted in agreement.  “Lord knows the little miss won’t go to school unless I make her.”  
  
Fai felt the weight of eyes on him, and turned to see Kurogane looking at him with utter disappointment, which was strange.  
  
“You _know_ about her?” Kurogane said incredulously.  
  
“Of course.  Kusanagi and I rescued her together.  Kusanagi, you’re not taking all the credit are you?” he asked teasingly, hoping it would distract the other two from the fact that he was still on his knees.  
  
“Rescued?” Kurogane spat out.  “She’s prey to a two-hundred-year-old vampire and she’s in middle school and you call that rescued?”  
  
“Oh,” Fai said with sudden understanding.  “She’s not prey.”  
  
Kurogane had a look on his face as if he’d been walking briskly along and the sidewalk suddenly wasn’t there.  “She’s not?”  
  
“She was.  She was in thrall to another vampire.  We took her away, because we have rules about these things.  We put this into effect over fifty years ago.  You cannot enthrall or even feed from anyone younger than the age of legal consent, according to the laws of the country you inhabit, not without dire emergency.  We had meant to send her back to her family.”  
  
Kurogane was looking at Kusanagi, who was shrugging.  
  
“Wasn’t any family to send her back to,” he said simply.  “And she likes getting into trouble.  Got a knack for it.  Seemed safer to keep her than to let her go.  And she has a stupid obsession with vampires anyway.  Can’t scrape her off me with a spatula.”  
  
“This is Kusanagi’s way of saying that they have taken a shine to each other, that a small girl has him wrapped around her finger, and that they have both promised to wait until she comes of age before making a decision about whether or not she will become his prey.”  
  
“Y-yeah,” Kusanagi agreed uncomfortably, shifting his feet.  Fai grinned at him.  He often called Kusanagi his deputy, but for all that they were not particularly close he also called him friend.  It did Fai good to see how happy this young girl made him.  “So I’d better get back home before she wakes up.  And you keep your mouth shut, you got your own prey to look after,” he scowled at Kurogane.  
  
Kurogane smirked in return.  “My prey’s a grown man,” he drawled.  “And if I know him at all, he charmed Lucia into cooking him dinner and then passed out on the sofa in the sitting room.”  
  
“Fai, I’ll report in later tonight,” Kusanagi said, suddenly anxious to be gone.  He was one of the sort who grew uncomfortable when he was caught out in daylight.  “We’ve got a hell of a mess to sort out.”  
  
“Yes, we do,” Fai muttered, and his hand fell to a smear of ashes in the grass.  
  
Then Kusanagi was gone, and that was when Kurogane came over and hauled Fai to his feet without a word of warning.  
  
“Come on,” he said gruffly.  “I can tell you’re worn out, and I can tell how bad you want to check on your father.  I kinda want to see how he’s doing, myself.”  
  
“My what?” Fai asked faintly, leaning on Kurogane in spite of himself.  
  
“Isn’t he?  Yuui, I mean.  You look a lot alike, but he’s way older than you.”  
  
Fai couldn’t help but chuckle.  “He’s my brother.  My twin brother, in point of fact.  I was turned when we were young, but he did not become my prey for a long time after that.”  
  
“Oh. Right,” Kurogane said awkwardly.  “Because you killed someone and had to spend twenty years serving somebody named Ashura.”  
  
“Not someone,” Fai sighed out.  “Many someones would be more accurate.”  He pulled away from Kurogane, and stepped ahead of him into the sitting room.  Exactly as Kurogane had predicted, his prey was snoozing on the sofa, an arm flung casually over his face.  Fai passed him by and went down the hall to look into their bedroom, desperate to see Yuui with his own eyes and be assured that he was all right.  
  
He was in bed, sleeping deeply.  He looked ill and pale, but he was breathing, and Fai sagged in relief.  He took in the sight of the bandages expertly wrapped around the bite mark, surprised.  Lucia wasn’t usually quite so handy with first aid.  
  
“If he’s still bleeding I can change the bandage,” Kurogane said, right in his ear.  Fai jumped with surprise and whirled around, throwing out a hand to push Kurogane back and sending him sprawling against the hallway wall.  “Uh, sorry.”  
  
Fai had thought Kurogane would remain in the sitting room with Doumeki, and he paused to allow his jittering nerves to calm themselves.  
  
“You bandaged him?” Fai asked.  
  
“Hnn.”  The sound seemed to be one of agreement.  “Got some water and sugar into him.  Bundled him up and tried to keep him warm.  But I left him in the other room.  Shizuka must have carried him in here.”  
  
Fai didn’t know what to make of this Kurogane, from start to finish.  He was the most unusual vampire Fai had ever met.  And he’d taken care of Yuui when Fai himself could not.  It was more than he could get his head around right now.  He already had too many things he was trying to think and feel.  
  
“Maybe next time you shouldn’t come so close to killing him,” Kurogane said suddenly, his face expressive with challenge.  He knew he was overstepping himself now, at least.  
  
Fai was too weary and heartsick to be affronted.  “It was an accident.”  As he spoke, he was going to Yuui’s side, brushing long strands of hair from his brow, needing to touch him and know for sure that he was warm and living.  
  
“You’re free to go, for now,” he said over his shoulder to Kurogane.  “I imagine that when my mother does arrive, she will want to speak to you about the events of last night.”  
  
Kurogane’s eyes were sharp and troubled.  Fai felt guilty, absurd as it seemed.  Kurogane had remained far from the schemes and complicated politics of their kind, and he seemed content in his life.  If he became embroiled in the war between Fai’s family and the Reed coven, Fai would feel even worse.  He needed to prepare Kurogane as best he could, answer his questions and anticipate the ones he wouldn’t know he should ask.  Kurogane lived in his territory and that made him Fai’s responsibility.  
  
But Kurogane wasn’t thinking about the same thing as Fai, after all.  “He’s not going to wake up anytime soon,” he said, nodding at Yuui on the bed.  
  
“I know.”  
  
“I’m not gonna leave yet.”  
  
“Beg pardon?” Fai asked politely, for a moment certain that he’d heard him wrong.  
  
“You’re a fucking mess,” Kurogane said plainly, leaving no room for error.  “You’re keeping it together pretty well, I’ll give you that.  But if you have a meltdown or something, somebody should be here who knows what they’re doing to help him.”  
  
“Meltdown?” Fai repeated haughtily.  The insolence of this man was staggering.  
  
Kurogane crossed his arms.  “It’s not gonna work on me.  I know you wore yourself out keeping that guy under control.  And I can tell how bad that was for you, having to kill him.”  
  
Fai hissed at him sharply, and it was a mighty struggle not to slip into his mind and silence his tongue.  
  
“So quit pretending you’re fine. You’re not.”  
  
Fai was a blur as he slammed into Kurogane and gripped him by the collar and shoved his fangs into his face.  “You are too familiar with me, child.  Know your place.”  
  
“I know my place just fine,” Kurogane said stubbornly, unmoved by the intimidation, gazing into his eyes without fear.  “For the moment, it’s right here.  You and Yuui both seem like idiots so I’m gonna stick around to make sure neither of you does anything too stupid, cause I’m gonna need you to do all the talking once your mom gets here.”  
  
A pair of hands rested themselves gently against Fai’s back.  
  
“I don’t know you or anything, but I know it probably sucks to feel like you have to pretend to be better than everybody all the time.”  
  
Then, somehow, Fai found himself crumpling against the other man, ducking his head to hide his face.  Vampires didn’t cry, but their bodies remembered the way of it, and his shoulders were shaking with unvoiced sobs.  He wanted Yuui, he needed to feel his brother’s arms around him, hear his voice against his ear telling him that he was strong enough for all this . . . But Kurogane was here, and if the arms around him were not Yuui’s, neither were they unwelcome.  
  
“Come on,” Kurogane said, sounding embarrassed for the first time.  The hands that had rested tentatively on his back now smoothed over his arms and tugged on him.  “Don’t want to disturb him, so let’s disturb Shizuka instead.  I’ll wake him up and send him home.”  
  
“No, let him sleep,” Fai protested, but Kurogane was already in the sitting room. It was hardly the most _polite_ way to rouse someone from sleep, Fai thought with distant amusement as he watched Kurogane yank the knitted blanket (one of Lucia’s) off him and tell him loudly that he’d slept through his alarm and was going to be late for class.  Fai stopped breathing so that he wouldn’t be caught laughing as Doumeki vaulted off the sofa and reached for something nonexistent that he must keep close to his bed—the clock, perhaps. He fumbled in the air, gave the whole room around him a deep frown, and then his face cleared as he realized the truth.  
  
He shoved Kurogane in the chest.  “You’re an idiot.”  
  
Kurogane cuffed him lightly on the head.  “So’re you.”  
  
“Everything go okay?”  
  
“Okay as executing a criminal can go, I guess,” Kurogane muttered.  “If you’re just gonna sleep, go home and do it there.  We want the sofa.”  
  
That gave Doumeki a moment of pause.  “You’re staying here, then?”  
  
“Yeah, for a while.  I’ll be home later.”  
  
“Alright,” came the easy answer, as though it did not matter much either way.  
  
Kurogane cast an odd, furtive, sideways glance at Fai for some reason before he leaned forward and kissed his prey lightly.  “See you.”  
  
Doumeki smirked more than he smiled at that, then turned to Fai and bowed.  “Thank you for your hospitality, Master Fai,” he said.  
  
An interesting thought occurred to Fai then.  “If you can spare me the time, I’d like another opportunity to dream with you,” he said.  “Now that I know Kurogane belongs in same of the missing spaces, I wonder if I might not be able to make a better study of the rest of it.”  
  
Doumeki looked interested, and nodded his acceptance.  “Sure.”  
  
“Not right now, though,” Kurogane spoke up.  “Shizuka needs more sleep, and you need to relax.”  
  
“Is he always so bossy?” Fai asked Doumeki in a terribly gauche stage whisper.  
  
“You haven’t even seen bossy yet,” Doumeki replied.  
  
Kurogane crossed his arms and scowled at them, and Fai found it oddly endearing.  
  
“I’ll come back another day,” Doumeki promised, and bowed to him again before exiting.  
  
Fai sank down onto the sofa, still warm from Doumeki’s sleeping body, before Kurogane could start insisting.  This was all very strange.  Normally if a vampire forgot or overstepped their place to such a degree, Fai would have them on their knees apologizing for their disrespect long before this point.  But he was rapidly becoming dangerously fond of this one.  He was so utterly sincere.  
  
“What are you smiling about?” Kurogane muttered, sitting down on the other end of the sofa.  
  
“You are so informal with him,” Fai said, gesturing at the closed front door.  “Most of us do not let their prey become so familiar.  Certainly not allowing them to strike you, even in jest. It was all rather amusing.”  
  
“Yeah, well, I don’t really do things just because it’s the way vampires are supposed to. Don’t really know about all the rules.  I just sort of do things because I want to.  Shizuka’s not just my food, he’s my—” Kurogane cut himself off, appearing stumped by his own effort to define it.  
  
“Boyfriend?” Fai suggested brightly, unable to help it after seeing them flirt.  
  
That just made him shrug irritably.  “Not really.  We’re not _dating_ , he dates other people.  That’s probably another thing I’m not supposed to let him do, isn’t it?”  
  
The truth was, there were any actual _rules_ regarding the type of relationship you must or must not have with your prey, barring those that protected against abuse.  It was more a matter of what was normal, especially among lesser vampires who felt the need to posture and act out their roles.  Fai was far from caring about such things himself, but he had the luxury of his position.  Kurogane certainly was not _required_ to be normal.  
  
Instead of saying any of that, Fai said, “You must have so many questions.”  
  
“Yeah, but I’ll ask them later.  Right now all I want to do is have a minute to think.”  
  
So Fai fell silent and allowed him that.  Both of their thoughts were drifting, Fai’s mostly crowded with worry about his mother’s reaction to all of this.  Fai had done what he thought best, but if Mother didn’t like it, she might order him to give up his home here and go back with her so she could keep a closer eye on him.  He had moved his small family here to get away from all the games and dramatics.  The last thing he wanted was to be dragged back in.  
  
He didn’t even notice that he was wringing his hands until Kurogane’s hand covered them and stilled them.  
  
“Worrying about it’s not gonna help,” he pointed out.  
  
Fai existed in such isolation.  Lucia knew her place was as a servant, and so all  he really had in this world was Yuui.  And he wanted desperately to be with Yuui right now, but he’d been an idiot and nearly killed him last night.  Maybe he’d been caught at a uniquely vulnerable time, or maybe Kurogane was just that special.  But Fai didn’t even think about it.  He turned his hand palm up and fit their fingers together, and then there they were.  Holding hands on his sofa.  Leaning in close to each other and he wondered if Kurogane also felt as though they were becoming familiar with frightening speed.  
  
A spark jumped between them.  Not the romantic spark of vapid storytelling, and probably not actual electrical charge either, but it felt like a spark.  Sharp and short and just barely painful.  And then Fai saw in his mind a man, a tall man with a long ponytail of hair, silhouetted in the night by leaping flames and brandishing a broken chair.  
  
He and Kurogane ripped themselves apart from each other, and Fai felt as though he were slowly falling into dark water.  
  
“Kurogane . . . That, just now, was that your father?” he asked, the words coming out slow and queer because it was suddenly hard to remember how to operate all those muscles in his chest.  
  
“I . . . what just happened?”  
  
In other words, yes.  The man Fai had seen looked so similar to the vampire that he had guessed.  But how?  How had he seen that?  
  
“You know that I can touch people when they sleep and look into their minds and tease out their secrets and futures, like I have done for Doumeki.”  
  
“Heh.  Lot of good that did for him.”  
  
Fai didn’t know what to do with his hands now, so he placed them carefully between his knees.  “I can’t do it with other vampires at all.  Because we’re not alive in the same way, I cannot access a mind the way I do with a human mind.  For one thing, we do not sleep and so there are no dreams for me to manipulate.  It’s honestly very hard to explain, because the gift is unique to me.  It’s never happened before that we know of.  Although my mother did not seem surprised, so I have my suspicions that she can do it also.”  
  
Speaking calmly, reasonably, explaining it—it was helping, but not much.  
  
“Get to the point,” Kurogane demanded.  
  
Fai shrugged and spread his hands helplessly.  “I just did it to you.”  
  
“You just said it doesn’t work on vampires.”  
  
“Yes, I did.”  
  
“So how did you do it to me, then?”  
  
Fai closed his eyes and said, “I have no idea.”  
  
Saying it aloud made it so much worse.  Fai reached out his hand, meaning to hold Kurogane’s again, meaning to investigate this, find out how far this went, try to explain it somehow— Kurogane jerked away from him.  
  
“I don’t want you in my head,” he snapped.  
  
Fai let his hand fall again, more surprised and hurt by that than he had any right to be.  “No, of course,” he murmured automatically.  But if he could not investigate it further, then what was he to do?  He’d seen into Kurogane’s _mind_ , his subconscious mind that awakened only when humans dreamed—and it made no _sense_ , Kurogane was not _human_ and this should not have been possible.  The closest he’d ever come to sharing something like this with another vampire was the way he could communicate with his siblings, but it was never with this level of clarity and it was explained by the ties of their blood.  This was different and strange and Fai didn’t think he could cope with anything else on top of what he was already dealing with.  But here it was, and so he must.  
  
Kurogane was back on the other side of the sofa.  His sudden discomfort and distrust was so strong that it was a like a physical pressure holding Fai away from him.  Fai supposed he couldn’t blame him.  They’d known each other for all of . . . _nom de dieu_ , was it only four hours?  And Fai had just seen something not just intensely private but probably intensely painful—there was only one good reason Kurogane’s father could have been standing in a burning house swinging around a broken chair, after all.  
  
No, he should not push Kurogane on this, much as he might want to.  There may be a way to convince him to allow Fai to explore this, but not now.  
  
“I am going outside to clean up the yard,” he said at last, getting to his feet.  “I don’t want Lucia to have to see it.”  
  
“Need help?” Kurogane asked grudgingly.  
  
“I do not, thank you,” Fai answered in tones of strained formality.  He didn’t quite know how to handle this.  He had no desire to use his standing or power to order Kurogane around, which was a realization he was too weary and disheartened to think about just now.  Why shouldn’t he order a lesser vampire around?  No, it was too much to think about on top of everything else.  Everything he wasn’t using to worry about his brother and his mother, everything he wasn’t using to grieve over the execution he’d just carried out, that was given over to worrying about Yuui and feeling guilty over hurting him.  He had nothing left for Kurogane right now.  
  
“ _C’est le bordel_ ,” he muttered, and shook his head fiercely.  He had a lot of responsibilities and self-pity was a luxury he could not afford today.  
  
He picked up Kyle’s clothes and shook the ash from them.  A cracked leather journal fell from the jacket and thumped to the ground.  Fai set it atop the folded clothing, resolving to look at it later.  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Fai took longer outside than was strictly necessary, and he wasn’t sure whether he was hoping Kurogane would have left by the time he came inside or whether he was hoping to find out that Kurogane had waited for him.  So he was unclear as to whether or not he was disappointed when he re-entered the sitting room and found it empty.  
  
He sat down on the sofa and let his head fall back with weariness.  He had long ago gotten used to the fact that vampires did not sleep, but there were still far too many moments in which he wished he could.  He knew better than anyone that a mind did not fall completely still in sleep, but there was something to be said for being unaware for a few hours.  To not be able to drive yourself mad with thinking.  And he needed blood again.  Already.  He’d never needed to feed twice in the space of eight hours, but then he’d never engaged in a mental battle with one of Fei Wang Reed’s children before.  
  
He needed Yuui.  He could not feed from him, but nevertheless he needed to curl up beside him, bury himself inside the scent and warmth of him.  Let Yuui chatter to him and distract him, tease him out of his troubled thoughts.  Kiss him until he could almost feel alive again.  
  
The sound of the television came buzzing from their bedroom.  Fai shot to his feet.  Yuui was awake.  And now that he was thinking properly, he could smell food of some kind, so Lucia must be awake as well, probably trying to care for Yuui.  He was a blur of speed down the hall to their room.  And then he brought himself up short so abruptly that he nearly fell over, which would have been unforgivably lacking in grace.  
  
It wasn’t Lucia.  It was Kurogane.  
  
Kurogane, half-sitting on the edge of the bed.  Kurogane, with his arm behind Yuui’s back, lifting him.  Kurogane’s chest that Yuui leaned his head on.  Kurogane’s hand steadying the cup—beef broth, by the smell—that Yuui was drinking from.  Kurogane.  In his bedroom.  With his hands on Fai’s twin.  
  
Fai’s fangs shot out and he hissed in warning.  
  
Kurogane looked completely startled, but Yuui’s smile was lazy when he turned his face toward Fai.  
  
“Good morning,” he greeted.  
  
Fai could feel his claws creeping out and he tried to stay steady.  Yuui would get angry with him if he attacked this _fils de pute_ in their bedroom.  
  
“What are you doing?” he asked, his words harsh and half-formed to avoid cutting himself on his own teeth.  
  
Yuui looked _amused_ , because he was a _conasse_ who lived to make Fai’s life more difficult.  “He is nursing me back to health, of course,” he said lightly.  “He was going to wake Lucia, but the poor dear only went to bed a few hours past, and I would not wish to disturb her.  Why would I wish to be waited on by Lucia when I can faint in the arms of such a beautiful young thing?”  
  
Kurogane was off the bed and across the room before Yuui could draw breath to speak again.  Yuui’s eyes sparkled with delight at the trouble he was making, while Kurogane looked completely panicked as he turned to Fai and, for the first time since he’d arrived, bowed to him as a superior.  
  
“I didn’t— I wasn’t— He needed to eat as soon as possible, and I was only—”  
  
It was almost a shame that vampires did not blush, because Kurogane looked like he ought to be red from the tips of his ears to the curve of his neck.  
  
“And then he told me that he doesn’t watch t.v.!” Yuui went on, apparently undisturbed by the fact that he’d been dropped back onto the bed like a sack of potatoes.  The broth, at least, was still in Kurogane’s hand instead of splashed across the bedding.  “So I insisted that he must stay here and learn about terrible daytime programming!”  
  
Fai’s anger was becoming a more general annoyance at his twin than a predatory jealousy aimed at Kurogane.  He could hardly blame the vampire.  This was clearly an effort by Yuui to tease Fai, and Kurogane could not be faulted for not knowing that Yuui was essentially shameless and for being unable to counter his devious mind.  
  
And then he realized that Yuui was just trying to keep him from worrying so much about him, and trying to cheer him because he knew that Fai would be grieving today.  His claws and fangs melted away along with his anger, and he saw for the first time just how pale Yuui’s skin was, and how his hands were shaking as he tugged at his blanket.  
  
“Yuui,” he said softly, going to the bed and sitting down beside him.  He drew the blankets around his twin and drew Yuui’s head into his lap.  He wanted to cry at how weak Yuui was in his arms.  
  
“Here,” Kurogane said gruffly, holding out the mug full of warm broth.  “He needs this.  And he needs more sleep.  When he wakes up, he needs more broth and maybe some toast or crackers if you—”  
  
“I know,” Fai said calmly.  As if there were a vampire in existence who did not know how to strengthen their prey when necessary!  
  
“Right,” Kurogane said awkwardly, passing over the mug into Fai’s hands.  “I’ll just . . . You’ll call me when your mom wants to talk to me, right?  I’ll let myself out.”  
  
“Don’t be a stranger~!” Yuui called after him, sing-song, as he shot out the door.  
  
Fai flicked him lightly on the nose.  “ _Ne fait pas le con_.  You are mine and you should not tease him so.”  
  
Yuui grinned unrepentantly.  “It’s only because he was so flustered.  He came in to check on me and it woke me, but I thought it was you, and I called him _l‘amour de ma vie_.  First he didn’t know what I said, so then it amused me to translate.  Then he didn’t know why I was calling anybody the love of my life, so I had to explain I still had my eyes closed and I was calling for _you_.  Then of course he didn’t understand _that_ , so I had to tell him quite plainly that in addition to being your twin and your food I am also your lover. I thought he would spontaneously fall into a pile of ash when he finally realized.  So then of course I had to see just how easy it was to tease him.  It‘s very easy, as you saw for yourself.  Even easier than you.”  
  
“You are terrible,” Fai said in disapproval, then kissed the tip of Yuui’s nose where he’d flicked him.  “ _L’amour de ta vie_ , hmm?”  
  
“Yes, of course,” Yuui smiled.  “But I am only half-joking, you know.  He’s lovely and I will allow him to feed me while I lounge in his arms at any time.  And I’m quite impressed that I escaped his company unscathed. I doubt he told you about what happened last night.”  
  
Yuui told him the story of Kurogane nearly attacking him, making Fai, for a moment, feel intensely sorry that he hadn’t torn the little upstart apart after all.  
  
“He apologized for that, this morning, by the way.  He was intoxicated by the smell of my blood, what little of it there is right now.  Apparently I smell simply irresistible.  He’s actually quite a gentleman.”  
  
“He seems to be,” Fai agreed, weighing his desire to chase Kurogane down and kill him against his weariness.  “Now stop talking and drink this.  You’ll pass out any minute and I want this inside of you before then. If you manage that, I’ll tell you the other very unique thing he did this morning.”  
  
Yuui knew when to stop arguing and do as Fai told him.  He drank the broth and listened quietly as Fai told him about seeing into Kurogane’s mind.  And as predicted, Yuui barely managed to say “But how?” before he was overcome with a wave of dizziness and passed out in Fai’s arms.  
  
Fai undressed and crawled under the blankets beside him, pressing their bodies close together.  He couldn’t have Yuui’s blood nor his company, but he could have his warmth.  It was enough to relax him so that he could drift along with the sounds of the television and stop worrying for a while.  
  



	3. every night in every pore

Part Three

_and I hear him every night in every pore and every time he just makes me warm_

Kurogane went straight to Shizuka's bedroom when he got home. It had taken him only a few minutes to run the distance between Fai's home and his own, but it had felt longer. He was troubled and confused and angry, and the only thing that would help right now was to be distracted.

Shizuka had gone back to sleep, though. Kurogane hovered at the door for a moment, contemplating rousing him. Tearing his clothes off, kissing every inch of him, sucking him off and making him howl and tug at Kurogane's hair. Or not even that. Just making him speak, even. Talk about his studies at school or this new girlfriend of his or the terrible novel he was reading. Just so Kurogane did not have to think.

Instead, he went to his own room and began to pace restlessly.

His father. Fai had touched his hand and suddenly seen his father. Kurogane was enraged at the idea that anyone, much less a powerful vampire, could look into his mind and take what they wanted, but even worse was Fai's own surprise that he could. Kurogane didn't want to be an unexplainable enigma, and he sure as hell didn't want the arrogant little lord to go digging around looking for the answers.

Except . . . Kurogane had nearly forgotten what his father looked like. The burst of clarity had brought him back more surely than spending hours trying to describe him. His teeth bared as he furiously defended his family against the attack, knowing it was hopeless but fighting anyway, tall and dark and everything Kurogane had wanted to be—

Kurogane whirled around and punched his closet door. Then he stood staring at the broken wood and pile of clothing on the floor at his feet. He really ought to know better than to punch anything.

So he'd go back, and he knew it. He'd let Fai try to figure out the reason for seeing things he shouldn't be able to see. If it helped him get his memories back, then he might be able to remember the vampire that had turned him and allow him to find them. He wanted answers from that bastard. He wanted retribution for his family. Fai could help him get that.

What Kurogane wanted far more than that was to remember the sound of his mother when she laughed.

Kurogane stacked up the broken pieces of the closet door and began to re-hang the clothes, his frustration finding no outlet other than to keep moving. Perhaps for some vampires, the length of their life made them take their time and consider nothing urgent. But for Kurogane it had always meant that there was no reason to wait before doing anything. He was tempted to head straight back to the other house.

He restrained himself. Fai would be busy with Yuui for at least a few days, not to mention this fiasco with the vampire they'd executed at dawn. That was another thing. Kurogane didn't want to be a part of this. He didn't want to get into politics and drama and meet powerful figures who thought they could tell him what to do. He just wanted to look after his family and be left alone.

And what if they got dragged into this, somehow? Chitose and Sayaka and their kids were all that was left of Tomoyo, his first and best friend. Could they get dragged into this just by knowing him? And Shizuka had even been present in the house when they'd done the deed. He was Kurogane's to protect, at least in the vampires' world.

It would be better if he knew exactly what the problem was. He could tell that Kusanagi and Fai were anxious about it, but he didn't really understand why. He'd picked up on the fact that Rondart seemed to think he was Fai's equal, but that begged the question of who the hell Fai really was.

And then there was Yuui. He wasn't even going to _start_ thinking about Yuui. That was something he just didn't even want to deal with right now. He wasn't going to think about his smile or his scent or the silver in his hair . . .

He heard the sound of Shizuka's footsteps long before Shizuka thought to clear his throat, and turned around and glared at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Fucking _twins_ ," Kurogane growled.

Shizuka blinked. "What?"

"Nothing," Kurogane muttered, picking up a shirt and shaking the splinters of wood off it. "Just, Fai can read my mind, and it's fucking eerie, and I don't know what the hell even happened last night but I know it's something I should have stayed out of and definitely shouldn't have gotten you involved in."

Shizuka shrugged and ambled over to him, picking up a good-sized chunk of the door and tossing it on the heap Kurogane had made. "I was already going to be involved. Did you just say he can read your mind?"

"He says he's doing that dreaming thing, except I don't have dreams so obviously not. He doesn't know how he's doing it, so don't ask."

"Okay," Shizuka said placidly. He shook out a jacket and handed it to Kurogane. "Not to add any more stress to your life, but I think you should meet Himawari really soon."

"Who?"

"My—hmm."

"Oh, your girlfriend."

"Sort of."

"Wait, _meet her_? She _knows about me_?"

"Don't get all pissed off until I explain."

"This had better be good."

Shizuka was far from intimidated. He flopped down on Kurogane's bed—an article of furniture he kept simply because the room looked weird without one—and laced his fingers behind his head. "I already knew who she was when I met her. At school, by the way, she's in one of my classes. Because Fai showed her to me in my dreams."

"Why did you go to Fai in the first place, anyway?"

"Thought it was weird that I couldn't ever remember my dreams except to know that they were really ominous, so I started poking around trying to find somebody who could explain it. He kinda found me from there, and said he could help. So I said sure, why not. And once he looked in and realized how much of my future he couldn't see, he decided to tell me about vampires and everything. So when I ran into you, I thought you were probably somebody I needed to stick close to."

"So then what about this girl?"

"That's what I was trying to talk about; you wanted to hear why I met with Fai."

"Now you're just being a dick," Kurogane scowled.

Shizuka grinned for a moment before resuming his explanation. "The first day of class, we were heading out of the door at the same moment, and she stopped dead when she saw me. I'm sitting there trying to figure out how to approach her, and she just says, 'I had a dream about you last week. Do you want to go get a coffee?' So it was pretty simple, really. We got coffee and talked."

"Pretty _simple_ —" Kurogane cut himself off. "So you told her about vampires."

"Yeah."

"You're an idiot."

"You've mentioned that."

"How come she didn't need to go to Fai to see her dreams or whatever?"

Shizuka frowned. "I don't know. Maybe she's just got some kind of power I don't have."

"Power?" Kurogane snorted.

"You're making fun of me for believing in that? _You_ , the one hundred and thirty year old man who lives off my blood?"

Kurogane opened his mouth, closed it, and then just suddenly couldn't take anymore of this. He dropped the pair of pants he was holding and sank down onto the floor, drawing his legs up and resting his chin on his arms. "Point taken," he mumbled.

That had Shizuka sitting upright and staring at him. "What—"

"Nothing."

It was all crowding onto him at once. There was some kind of huge mess that he'd gotten involved in, and all he knew about it so far was that it involved a vampire with a power that scared him and a human he wanted and couldn't have. The thing he was most concerned about was his ability to protect what was his, and yet here was Shizuka not only unconcerned for himself but trying to throw his girlfriend into it.

He missed Tomoyo. He missed talking to her. She would have helped him figure all this out.

"You're not really going to be able to do much until you go back there and get Fai to explain it to you."

"I know."

"You know you're pouting like a little kid right now, right?"

Kurogane looked up to glare at him, because what the fuck did he know, but Shizuka was obliviously climbing off the bed.

"I'm starving, I'm getting something to eat."

Kurogane got up and followed him. "I'll make you something." He might not eat, but he wasn't a terrible cook after all these years. If he wasn't going to be of any use to himself, he might as well make Shizuka breakfast.

* * *

Kurogane went to answer the knock on his door wondering if it was Shizuka's little springtime girlfriend, but he should have known better. Only vampires waited until dusk to come for a visit.

He bristled at the sight of Kusanagi on his doorstep, feeling so immediately and uncontrollably territorial that his claws shot out. It was one thing to have been at Kusanagi's place—he'd been invited. He hadn't issued any similar invitation. There was something in him that wanted to tear this foreign predator apart before it could violate his home or threaten his human.

He immediately tried to restrain himself. Kusanagi had never been a threat to him and this was hardly the time to start an internal conflict in their little corner of the world.

"What's up?"

"I'm heading back to Fai's to talk. He said try to get you to come along."

"Try?" Kurogane repeated, crossing his arms.

Kusanagi shrugged. "He said it's not an order."

"That bastard ever tries to give me an order, I'll shove it up his ass," Kurogane muttered. This was his way of covering up his relief at having an excuse to go. He was capable of humility when the situation called for it, but he wasn't planning to go belly-up to Fai anytime soon. "Hang on a second." He walked halfway down the hallway and yelled, "I'm going to Fai's!"

"I'm going to Himawari's!" was yelled back at him.

"I'm pulling rank and telling you no sex! I need to drink tomorrow and she tastes like goddamn sunshine!"

"Fine! Do you have a preference for wine, though?"

"I only like red! Don't drink that sweet white crap!"

"Yes, boss!"

"And don't call me that!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Fuck you!"

Communication thus accomplished, Kurogane went back to Kusanagi and stepped outside, locking the door behind him. Kusanagi looked more amused than anything, and he'd better keep his mouth shut. Fai had already so kindly pointed out that Kurogane allowed Shizuka too much freedom.

There was a young couple walking a dog and pushing a stroller, so they had to walk normally instead of taking off fast right away. Once they had rounded a corner and were free of any witnesses, they both started running. There was nothing quite so good as the wind rushing over your face and blowing through your hair, Kurogane thought distantly. He loved to run. He loved to watch the lights flash past him and to leap over anything that got in his way. When there had been less city and more nature, he used to test himself by chasing down animals. He let them go when he caught them, of course, but it was the only real challenge he had.

He was at Fai's door quicker than he thought he'd be. He must be getting faster.

Lucia answered the door, her smile bright and welcoming, but Fai was right behind her. He peered over Kurogane's shoulder. "Where's Kusanagi?"

Kurogane looked behind him with surprise. "Uh. I think I outran him."

"Ah. _Entrez_ , come in. Thank you for choosing to come."

So Fai felt awkward about it too. Small consolation.

Kurogane stepped into the sitting room and was surprised to see Yuui there, laying on the sofa and managing to look more indolent than invalid. But he was still pale and his eyes were heavily shadowed. There was a tray with some kind of soup and some kind of juice beside him, so at least he was trying.

"My hero comes at last," he sighed, hanging his head over the arm of the sofa to offer Kurogane a dreamy smile.

"Are you drunk?" Kurogane scoffed, moving more fully into the room but not sitting. There were a few chairs in here, but he had manners and was waiting for an invitation.

"Well, I am weak with blood loss and I may have taken several painkillers recently," Yuui said thoughtfully and worryingly slowly. "But the food should help soon. Either that or I shall faint again. It could go either way. Will you sit down?"

Kurogane supposed it was Yuui's house as much as it was Fai's, so he sat down. "You look better."

"My darling brother has taken good care of me."

That was all Kurogane really needed to hear about _that_. Thankfully, Kusanagi arrived just then and was ushered inside, and the bustle of the door closing and the others coming in saved him from saying anything stupid.

Kusanagi slapped Kurogane on the shoulder as he walked past him to find his own seat. "Can't believe you outstripped me like that. You're too damn fast."

Kurogane was perfectly happy with being fast and wasn't about to apologize. Maybe Kusanagi just needed to work out more.

"Dare say he could give you a run for your money, Fai," Kusanagi added.

Fai paused in the act of sitting down. "I doubt that."

"Anytime you feel like testing it out," Kurogane grinned.

"I would be delighted," Fai said smoothly.

Yuui burst out laughing. "Oh, he is so self-assured, it's enchanting," he crooned, still giving Kurogane moon-struck eyes. "You do not know enough about Fai to know how foolish your challenge is, do you?"

"Oh, knock it off," Kurogane snapped. He looked at Fai. "Are you really that fast?"

Fai shrugged, looking almost as embarrassed as Kurogane. "It is what I was made for," he said. "And this actually leads us to the point of this meeting. We are here to discuss what may happen in the next few days, but I realized it was necessary to give Kurogane something of an education before we could have a beneficial conversation about it."

"Yeah, probably," Kurogane admitted grudgingly. He'd never cared before, but now he sort of had to. Best to be prepared.

"I think it's safe to say you know nothing, but have you at least heard of Clow Reed?"

Kurogane nodded, grateful for the small amount of familiarity to ground him. "Heard other vampires swear on his name, before. I know we don't have gods or anything like that, but I figured he had to be really powerful at least."

"He was," Fai said. "He was so old and spoke so little of himself that it has never been confirmed, but the rumours say that he was the first of our kind. And he was by far the most powerful. Even the oldest would bow to him. If he spoke, a vampire obeyed."

"Okay," Kurogane said. "Vampire king. Got it."

Yuui laughed softly.

"Clow Reed is gone, now. He chose final death and asked his children to carry it out. One of his children died soon afterward under mysterious circumstances, Yue who served close at his side. I will explain later about these deaths. What is most important, currently, is that he has only two children still surviving. These two children of his are the most powerful and important of our kind. They have vast holdings and many lesser vampires at their service. They are also enemies. Do you follow so far?"

Kurogane gave Fai a glare for the patronizing question. "It's not difficult. The kingdom was split in two. You've got two rival kings now."

"Almost," Fai said, with a soft laugh. "One of these children is called Fei Wang Reed. He is of the mind that humans are cattle and slaves and worthless. Far from punishing abuses against them by vampires under his service, he tends to encourage it. The other is a woman, so technically we have a king and a queen, you see. Her name is Yuuko. She believes the very opposite of humans. She believes it is the duty of every vampire to protect and cherish them—we were, after all, human ourselves once. After all, what good is strength if it is not used to help those who do not have it?"

"I like her," Kurogane said immediately. "But if you're trying to tell me I have to go declare my allegiance to someone's kingdom, you're gonna find out I'm not that easy to order around."

Fai smiled. "You do not have to serve either of them directly, but depending on where you choose to make your home, their rules must be abided by."

"I'm guessing that I'm abiding by hers, considering what happened yesterday."

"Indeed. Now, then, you must understand how delicate the balance of power between these two can be. There are many vampires in the world, more than you think. If enough of them chose to ignore what bloodlines have always meant to us, it would be possible to overthrow them. The two of them must be good rulers and carefully not abuse the balance of power to avoid that. They agreed long ago that the two of them would each have the same number of children. Because they themselves are directly the children of Clow, their own children are also quite powerful, you understand. So it would be unfair for say, Fei Wang Reed to have only two and Yuuko to have twenty."

"I guess. So how many do they have?"

"Well, that's complicated. You see, we killed one of Reed's children last night."

"Oh, fuck," Kurogane blurted. They might have told him this _beforehand._

Yuui started giggling at that. "Fuck, yes," he said, not unkindly. "Fai is being very dramatic right now and trying to make this into some sort of grand revelation. But you mustn't blame him for it; being dramatic is practically a requirement for his position. What he isn't telling you is that he's one of Yuuko's children himself."

Kurogane had to take a moment with that one. "So you're, what . . . A prince?"

"Of a sort," Fai said uncomfortably.

"Did you start a war last night? Did you just execute your _cousin_?"

"He's hardly a member of my family," Fai said, affronted. "We have a tie of blood from our makers, but I would never claim him as a loved one."

"No wonder you were upset."

Fai looked grieved. "There is no telling what sort of man Kyle Rondart was before Fei Wang Reed turned him. His influence is so great that it would have eclipsed some of Kyle's own personality. I do not think we saw more than a moment of who he truly was. And I think we only saw it at the moment of his death. If he had agreed to enter service with me . . . I might have been able to . . . Well, it doesn't matter now."

They were all silent a moment at that.

"In reality, what I did corrected an imbalance that already existed. As I said before, it becomes very complicated. Because Reed cheated, and made two brothers his children at once, and he technically had four children whereas my mother had only three. But we allowed it to stand because those two rebelled and escaped from him many years ago and have been in hiding ever since. Since they are not using their power to serve him, we allowed the imbalance to stand."

"Mostly so you wouldn't have to admit you helped them go into hiding," Yuui broke in to point out. He was starting to fade again, his movements becoming sluggish. "They were just boys, it was terrible," he said to Kurogane. "Yuuko was only too happy to help them get away."

"Yes," Fai agreed. "Now would you be quiet? You are going to make yourself pass out before we even start discussing anything."

"Fine," Yuui said huffily.

"Now then," Fai said, shifting in his seat. "So as things stand, Reed still has three children, although two are hidden from him. His other child is called Freya. She is beautiful, and powerful, and deeply under his control, so if you are ever approached by a vampire with long blond hair, you should run as fast as you can."

"What about Yuuko's other children? Kyle kept talking about your brother."

Fai's face crumpled at that. "Kimihiro. He went to Fei Wang Reed's court and serves him. About that, we can do nothing. He chose to go there of his own free will. It grieves my mother deeply, but he made his choice. And it is . . . hard to blame him. He had a human brother, and Reed took his brother as a thrall. Kimihiro chose his human family over his vampire kin, and there is nothing I can say about that."

Yuui had gone very still.

Kurogane glanced at Kusanagi, then, to see if the other vampire felt as ridiculously uncomfortable as he did, having to be in the same room when Fai and Yuui were having an entire conversation with their eyes. The two of them seemed to have forgotten for the moment that anyone else was there. Kusanagi looked back at him with no expression on his face save a grim set to his mouth. Yeah, he wanted to be anywhere else in the world just as bad as Kurogane did.

"Why doesn't he just grab his brother and come home, though?" Kurogane asked awkwardly.

Startled out of their eye sex or whatever they were doing, both twins turned toward him again.

"That is a good question," Fai said, "that we have all asked many times. The answer is that we don't know. Kimihiro does not contact us. And we cannot simply travel into Reed's lands and demand answers without causing offense of the sort we cannot afford."

"Right. So what about your other sibling, then? Where are they at?"

"Suu," Fai supplied, his face brightening when he said the name. "My sister. She stays close to my mother and serves at her side. She is the only one of us who has made a child of her own. She has a child called Ora. Suu and Ora stay near Mother, and they share a prey between them. It's all very scandalous," he added with a slight sparkle in his eyes. "The others do love to gossip about it."

"So you guys get along, at least."

"Oh, yes," Fai said, seeming happy. "Suu is wonderful."

"So who's Ashura, then?"

Fai seemed startled by that.

"I mean, you said you served him. Is he part of your family?"

"Ah. No, he is— _was_ —not. He was old and powerful, extremely so. I . . . you must understand something about me. About how and why I was made. Yuuko is very careful and very smart about choosing whom she makes into her children, finding those she thinks will be uniquely suited to her needs. Suu is gifted with illusions and she can navigate intrigue and gossip and secrets and she is perfect for such games. Kimihiro . . . Mother passed on to him much of her own power and influence. When he walks into a room, every vampire will drop to their knees; I struggle not to bow to him myself and he is my own brother. When Mother made me, what she needed was a hunter."

 _Your quarry. A rustle in the dark. There. The scent of blood hot and thick and real, filling the air around you, the cool of the night rushing past you as you give chase, the shadows hiding danger and game alike, and your claws glinting in starlight_ —

Kurogane struggled for control. "Oh," he said dumbly, trying to swim out of his sudden daydream.

"And . . . I thought Yuui was dead. Yuuko had thought him dead. I believed . . . Well. I was angry. And lost. And full of bloodlust that I could not control without her help, but I did not want her help, not then. So I left. I took up with a gang of other bloodthirsty monsters and I— suffice it to say that I was more monster than any of them. I was more wild animal than anything, and I remember little of it save to know that I was a killer."

Fai was looking at his feet, and Kurogane found it hard to condemn him when the grief of it still seemed to rest so heavy on him.

"Until Ashura caught me on his land. When I was brought before him for judgment, Ashura offered me mercy. I had not expected it. But I was desperate for it, and I accepted. He was able to teach me to control myself. If we carry out this metaphor of a kingdom, then consider Ashura a nobleman. He had enough influence that he was able to convince my mother that it was for the best, and she left me with him for the twenty years I had pledged."

"And so now you're what, reformed?"

Fai spread his hands helplessly. "I hope I am. I have not killed a human since then, but sometimes the hunter in me can become hard to control. Suu is always in the back of my mind to remind me not to stray."

"So what happened after the twenty years were up?"

"Ashura chose to die after that. He felt he had lived long enough, and he asked to be killed. It was all done with ceremony, with witnesses to ensure that it was of his own free will. I was there. He said he was glad he had lived long enough to help me. Then I returned to my dame, and began to serve at her side. I did not know that she had worked in the meantime on my behalf. She had located Yuui for me."

"Where were you?" Kurogane asked the other twin, who was now laying very still and quiet on the sofa, trying to stay with them and not fall back asleep.

"Not dead," Yuui said cheekily, but quelled when he looked at Fai's grim expression. "In Africa. Hired out as a mercenary. There was always fighting in Africa then."

"There's always fighting in Africa _now_ ," Kurogane couldn't help but point out.

"Yes, and that is the truest tragedy of war." The wistful, grieved expression didn't sit right on his face. He was built for smiles.

"So," Fai said, his voice slightly too loud, "I found him, and reassured him that while I was not, strictly speaking, alive, neither was I gone from him. He had not made any attachments that were hard to break, so I was able to bring him home with me right away."

"First he was being dramatic, and now he is attempting to be kind," Yuui said, shifting uncomfortably and pressing his hand briefly to the wound on his neck. "I didn't fare much better than Fai did, once I thought he'd died. Did many things I regret. I was a laudanum addict and I was dying when he found me."

Fai hurried to the sofa and went to one knee beside Yuui, gently touching his shoulder. "If you're in pain, just say so," he said softly. "You ought to go back to bed."

"No," Yuui said stubbornly. "I'm well enough. This is important. Stop fretting."

Fai acquiesced, going back to his seat. Kurogane followed his movement. Fast, but graceful and light. Kurogane was beginning to wonder whether or not he really could challenge him for speed or strength.

"Kusanagi, you've been very quiet," Fai suddenly said.

The man in question shuffled his feet. "Not my story to tell."

"No, but I suppose we are ready to begin discussing the situation at hand. And since you are of course the eldest . . ."

Kusanagi groaned when Fai offered a sly smile. "Don't start that again."

"He is?" Kurogane asked in complete surprise.

"He's past two hundred."

"Yeah, but . . . Then how old are you?"

"I have a mere one hundred and thirty seven years," Fai grinned.

"We're practically the same age!" Kurogane couldn't help feeling cheated. He'd expected a powerful prince to be at least three times his age. "You could influence me or Kusanagi without even trying!"

"Such is the benefit of being the child of Yuuko, queen among vampires," Fai laughed. But the smile fell away again quickly. "Kimihiro is also quite young. My mother had other children before us, whom she lost in a conflict." He waved a hand. "That is quite beside the point. Kusanagi, _did_ you have anything to say?"

Kusanagi just shrugged. "I wouldn't have given witness if I didn't think it was the right thing to do. He was guilty, and he goaded you into hunting him. He knew what he was doing. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was using you."

"Using me?" Fai repeated, but he didn't sound all that surprised. Kurogane had already begun to wonder about that, himself, and was glad to know he was getting the hang of this enough to make reasonable guesses.

"Not just to die, although he probably wanted that," Kurogane spoke up. "He probably knew he was going to upset the power balance."

"Yes, I think so," Fai agreed. "The only question is why? Why choose me? Why now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kurogane ignored the fact that he was disrespecting a prince by saying it that way. "You're the hunter, right? And you're out here on your own, away from the court. He probably couldn't be sure that it would work if he broke the rules where your mother or sister would catch him. But it had to be one of you, right?"

"Mmmm, I think you are right," Fai said, thoughtfully tapping at his lower lip with his index finger. "As for why now, at this moment . . . I do not think we can know that until I have spoken to my mother and found out what she knows of Reed's court right now."

"You don't know?"

"I removed myself from the game as far as I could," Fai said. "I don't know enough to even begin to guess."

Out here on his own, no court or retainers or lesser vampires other than Kusanagi, and his only servant a sweet little housekeeper? Yeah, that was pretty far removed. And now his misery made even more sense—he really had hated to kill Rondart, but he also hated that by doing so, he was going to get dragged back in. Kurogane felt more sympathy for him, now. He hadn't wanted to get involved in anything either. But it was no good crying about it now.

"So we're all in deep shit, right? This Reed guy is going to want restitution or something because we killed his child, and we need your mother in on this to help us figure out how to not fuck everything completely up."

Yuui giggled weakly. "So eloquent," he said dreamily.

"Accurate enough," Fai added in a grumpy tone. Then a look passed between him and Kusanagi, and there was some kind of understanding they were coming to, looking at each other and nodding, and Kurogane wasn't pleased about being left out of it. "Kurogane . . . I do not feel right about involving you in this. Your name will not be mentioned, and you hold no responsibility here. You had no idea—"

"No responsibility? Are you even listening to yourself?" Kurogane barked out, angry enough that he jumped to his feet. "I pronounced him guilty, I stood witness to his execution! It doesn't matter what I had an idea about, if I didn't want to get _involved_ then I wouldn't have _gotten involved_. No, I'm part of this now. What would you do, anyway, tell them you'd judged and executed him without a third witness? How stupid are you?"

Fai also jumped to his feet. " _Know your place_!" he hissed.

Kurogane felt power slam into his brain like a breaking wave, and he fell back into his chair with a solid thump. Unwilling, and struggling, and scowling, he murmured, "Yes, sir."

"Fai!" Yuui suddenly snapped.

Kusanagi had also stood up, hands ready at his sides in case he needed to jump into the fray, but Yuui was laying back against the arm of the sofa, a sheen of sweat on his face and a frown on his lips.

He issued a rapid stream of foreign words that Kurogane had no hope of following, but it was like watching a father chastising his child. Fai tried to argue but quickly wilted under the barrage, and Kurogane took a moment to think, incredibly stupidly, that even when they were speaking in anger it sounded like poetry.

Fai eventually sat back down. He looked at Kurogane from beneath a tumble of blond hair, as though the innocent youthful thing was somehow going to help.

"Yuui has reminded me that I came here because I was tired of people bowing and scraping to me. He is entirely correct that my desire to protect you has caused me to lose my temper unforgivably. It was wrong of me to imply that you are incapable of making your own decisions. Please accept my apology."

Kurogane cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, so that's settled. So what do we think's gonna happen, then?"

While Fai and Yuui were both looking at him like he was a completely new breed of vampire, Kusanagi answered.

"Formal hearing type of thing. We'll all have to travel to the Old World, to Yuuko's court, to meet with the elders of our kin—you know, the nobles—and they will decide how it gets handled. Since Reed's overdue a punishment for making two children at once, it'll probably only be a slap on the wrist. Land or money given to Fei Wang Reed as recompense. It'd be different if Fai had killed him in cold blood, but he was clearly within his rights, so it won't be bad. There's a few of the older ones who would still require that Yuuko give Reed some human thralls as part of the payment, but I don't think they'll get much support. Yuuko's stance has changed a lot of minds over the years."

Kurogane chewed on that for a moment. "I can't believe you still call it the Old World," he said at last.

Kusanagi chuckled. "I didn't say we changed _quickly_."

"That doesn't sound that bad. I'm just going to have to go to tell them what I witnessed, right? Or am I supposed to make part of the payment?"

"Normally you would be required to make payment," Fai said, "but I will be doing that for all three of us. And before you argue," he said, when Kurogane opened his mouth, "I would do the same for anyone who had borne witness for me. I have the right to fulfill the obligations of any vampire who lives under my protection."

Kurogane found himself relaxing quite a bit, now that he had a firmer grasp of the situation. "The way you were stressing out, I was expecting us to get thrown into a pit of bloodthirsty newborns or something."

Fai laughed weakly. "No, I am a selfish creature entirely, Kurogane. I am only concerned that once I am back in my mother's court, I will never be able to have a quiet life again."

Something didn't add up right about him. The way he spoke and carried himself, the ease with which he accepted responsibility and issued orders . . . He was a natural at being a prince. And he seemed to have plenty of affection for his maker and his siblings ( _still not thinking about his twin_ ) so it made no sense that he was trying to avoid them.

"You mean you'll have to stop punishing yourself," Kurogane said.

The silence was deafening.

"Isn't that what you're doing? Living in exile to punish yourself for what you did when you were younger?"

Fai stood up and stalked out of the room. Kusanagi leveled Kurogane with a look that implied Kurogane was a complete idiot. He'd been standing ever since Fai and Kurogane had gotten in each other's faces a few minutes ago, and now he dipped his head to Yuui.

"Tell Fai I've gone out to patrol, and to call me when he has need of me."

"Mmm."

"Goodnight."

As soon as he was gone, Kurogane focused on Yuui, who hadn't lifted his head and probably couldn't, at this point.

"Dizzy?"

"Very."

"You want me to warm up this soup so you can finish it?"

"I think I would vomit," Yuui whispered.

"Um. _Are_ you going to vomit?"

"Only if I am required to move at all or breathe."

"Do you want to go back to bed? I can probably convince Fai to come back in to help you get up."

Yuui offered him a watered-down version of his cheeky smile. "And miss the opportunity to be carried by you?"

"No," Kurogane said immediately. "No, I'm a vampire, moron, and you're another vampire's—"

"If you are about to tell me that I am Fai's property, then you are not the sort of person I had started to believe you were," Yuui said, managing to make it sound sharp.

"No, I just meant . . . Ah, dammit, fine, I'll carry you."

Kurogane set the blanket aside and lifted Yuui into his arms, and was surprised by how easy he was to carry. He glanced down at Yuui's face several times as they went down the hall, watching for signs that he really would throw up, but he had his face pressed in to Kurogane's shirt. Kurogane tried to slide him onto the bed without jostling him too much.

"Water?"

"Mmm, no."

Yuui had his eyes closed, and Kurogane's hand found its way to his forehead on its own, dabbing at his clammy skin.

"You really should have eaten that soup. You gotta try to eat more when you wake up."

"You're very sweet," Yuui murmured. "I will endeavour to be ill more often if it leads to being waited on by you."

"Look, stop that," Kurogane snapped, stung in spite of himself.

"What do you mean?"

"Stop flirting with me," Kurogane clarified, too frustrated to be much embarrassed. "Look, it's none of my business what you and your brother want to do, but it's still a fact that you are doing—well, things. With him. And you know how good you smell to me, so just _stop_."

" _Merde._ You're right. I'm sorry. I can hardly get swept off my feet when I know very well I do not want to ever be parted from Fai."

"Swept off your feet," Kurogane repeated flatly.

"Well, you're very heroic," Yuui murmured with a soft smile. "And brave and handsome and all the rest."

"All that blood loss is getting to you," Kurogane snorted.

"Perhaps you will not look quite so good to me in the morning, then?"

Kurogane felt prickly all over, like his body wanted to blush. He'd thought it was all just a joke, that it was just the way Yuui was or something. Was he seriously interested?

"Well, you should get some rest," Kurogane muttered.

"Yes. Kuro . . . Kmphhh-handsome," he mumbled, fading fast and turning stupid. "Talk to . . ."

"Fai?"

" _Oui_. Dreams . . ."

That was all Yuui managed to say, but it was enough to remind Kurogane of what he really wanted when he came over tonight. He wanted to see how much Fai could draw out of his memory. And that meant trying to cool down both of their tempers and stop posturing around each other so much.

He heard voices, and followed them into the kitchen, where Fai was conversing with Lucia. She looked perfectly alert, despite the late hour. She must be used to keeping odd hours. Lucia was making a grocery list, and they appeared to be discussing what the best things would be to feed Yuui for the next few days. Kurogane didn't want to interrupt, and turned back around to go wait in the sitting room, but Fai looked up at him and beckoned him in.

"We can finish in the morning, Lucia. It's getting late, you may retire."

Surprisingly enough, she got up on her tiptoes and they kissed each other on the cheek before she slipped out past Kurogane.

"So what's her story?"

"Lucia? Her family served Ashura's household for generations. She was a companion of mine during the time I served him, and she asked to remain with me when Ashura chose to end his existence."

"She's that old? You feed from her?"

Fai nodded. "Just often enough to ensure that she is given the protection of being my prey. It's valuable to me to have someone to whom I do not need to explain anything."

"What does she get out of it?"

Fai shrugged, smiling wistfully. "She's a dear friend. She says she likes simply having a purpose. I will let her go and allow her to grow old and pass away whenever she asks me, but she hasn't yet." He tipped his head slightly. "I need to apologize to you."

"Yeah, me too," Kurogane mumbled.

"The truth of the matter is that I do feel very protective about you, Kurogane. You should never have been left alone as a youth, and I worry that your inexperience will harm you when we travel back to my family. I'm afraid I let my pride get in the way. In my arrogance, I was disrespectful. It was not my intention."

Kurogane didn't know how to respond to that but with the truth. "Well, it was mine, I guess. And that was pride talking on my part, too. Obviously you've got more experience than I do with this stuff, and I ought to be giving you more credit."

"You really ought," Fai said with a sudden, bright smile, and Kurogane blinked because it made him and Yuui look even more alike. "But then I should probably give you more, as well. You don't know how impossibly strong you are, to be the person Kusanagi has told me you are. I am utterly shocked that you have never killed a prey before."

And Kurogane was similarly surprised that Fai had once been a ruthless killer. He had a bit of a temper on him, but there was not even a hint that he took pleasure in violence.

"Well, I've killed a few times. There was this rapist . . . Eh, it's not important," he muttered. "I've never killed anyone that I took as prey. It helps if your only friend is an eleven-year-old girl. _You_ try explaining why you killed someone to a little kid."

Fai gaped at him.

"What?"

Fai wasn't laughing, but then he wasn't breathing at all. His lips twitched suspiciously.

" _What_."

"You must tell me more about this girl," Fai finally managed.

"You're making fun of me, but she was terrifying, okay."

"I see."

"See for yourself," Kurogane snapped, and held out his hand. It was the nicest invitation Fai was going to get, so he'd better take it. Kurogane wasn't going to offer again.

He mostly wondered if this would even work. He hadn't really been thinking about his father, last time, not on purpose. He'd just been thinking about how he'd gotten into this whole mess, and the real answer there was that he'd gotten made into a vampire instead of getting killed. So now, he consciously brought up a memory of Tomoyo and wondered whether or not Fai would be able to see it.

Fai was so surprised that he just stared at Kurogane's hand for a minute, but then he pressed their palms together tightly and closed his eyes.

No spark this time. Just a strange warmth.

_The dress is the same plain shapeless thing worn by all the girls at Wicklow's, but Tomoyo has managed, through a frightening level of resourcefulness, to turn it into something pretty. Where she got the materials is a mystery, but she's managed to craft a new neckline and add fancy buttons and a fall of lace at the wrists._

_When a girl is twelve, Tomoyo says, she just wants to feel pretty. She always had such nice dresses as a little girl, before they lost everything, so it's not hard to sense that the modifications to the ugly garment are a desperate effort to regroup. Talking about it won't help, so you don't. You light the lantern instead, to draw her close. You don't need it anymore, you can see in the dark, but she moves close to the light and therefore close to you. It's an excuse to pat her clumsily on the arm, which is all the comfort you can offer. Useless._

" _Are you ready?" she asks._

" _Yeah." You bring out the book hidden under the bench. It's meant for small children, which is why you'd rather not carry it around. "I've been practicing with flyers in shop windows."_

_Her smile is the only sweet thing you know. You live the rest of your life in the dark, now. In hiding. The glow of this lantern and the glow of her fond smile is all you have. And so even though she could get caught, and punished by the staff of Wicklow's Home for Girls, you still come here at night and wait for her to sneak out and come spend an hour teaching you to read when she ought to be sleeping._

" _You look so pale," she murmurs._

" _Don't go out in the sun much now. And I haven't . . . you know. Much."_

" _You're thirsty?"_

_It's still more than you can bear, to talk about your craving for human blood with her. You turn your face away, and try as always to ignore your rough throat and pinched chest._

" _I have to be careful. I can't have a rumour going around about the mad blood drinking monster who hunts the streets at night."_

_She giggles, the sound of water droplets tinkling on glass. "It's a strange monster indeed that would steal blood but leave the victim alive to tell the tale. I can imagine how the rumour would spread." Her face suddenly goes shrewd and serious. "You do, don't you?"_

_How would you ever manage to kill someone, knowing you'd come back here for a reading lesson and look into her face and have to say that you don't leave them alive after all? She'd know if you were lying. Your own principles won't let you, but the bloodthirst is sometimes so overwhelming . . . No, it's the terrifying thought of her reaction that keeps your victims safe._

" _Good." She leans against you comfortably and holds the book out so you can both see it. "Where were we?"_

Fai was smiling when Kurogane looked up, and he was silenced by what a shatteringly lovely thing it was when Fai offered up a smile that looked like it was borne of hearbreak. Fai still had their hands pressed together.

"I think it will take me years to understand who you are."

"Nobody asked you to," Kurogane muttered.

"How did you befriend her?"

"She was my neighbour growing up. She's the only _actual_ survivor of the attack on our town, cause I don't really count."

"And you remained friends?"

"All her life," Kurogane confirmed, wanting nothing more than to have this over and done with. He'd proved that Fai could access his memories and that was all he'd been hoping to accomplish. He didn't want to share all the intimate little details of his friendship with Tomoyo. It wasn't exactly the sort of thing you talked about with someone you wanted to take you seriously.

Their hands were still touching, and Fai gave no warning.

"— _my particular friend, Sakura!" Tomoyo's voice is so warm and fond that you immediately look away from the girl she's pointing at to look at her. There's a light in her eyes that isn't friendship, you don't think, but you're not going to question her._

_You're not officially meeting Sakura, just having her pointed out to you so you'll have a face to go with the name Tomoyo hasn't stopped saying in months. You can't do things like get introduced to her friends. Tomoyo is an orphaned teenager and her precarious reputation can't afford you. A disreputable older guy hanging around all the time? They'd probably toss her out of Wicklow's on her ear._

" _You know her from school?"_

" _Yes. She works so hard at her studies, I truly admire her!"_

_Tomoyo's practically swooning. She might want to start making it less obvious if she doesn't want anybody to know exactly how particular her friendship with Sakura is._

" _And that is her charming fiance, Syaoran. Their engagement is still a secret, because they're still too young and Sakura's brother would never approve, but I just know it will work out! They love each other so."_

_You abruptly wish you could kill the guy and leave Sakura free for her, as if it worked like that. There's never much you can give her to make up for everything she lost, and you wish you could give her happiness with this girl._

" _And that is Sakura's older brother, a true gentleman, Touya. His bosom companion is named Yukito, oh, there he is—"_

Fai flung his hand away like it burned, and Kurogane realized that Fai had actually been trying to break the connection for a good minute or so. Was it that hard to break, or had Kurogane been somehow keeping hold of him without knowing it?

"Is this some kind of joke?" Fai asked, eyes wide.

"What?"

"His bosom companion Yukito? Do you have any idea who that _was_?"

"If you mean did I know he was a vampire, then yeah. I knew right away; I smelled it on him. I never went near him or spoke to him. But later Touya told me all about it. He was Yukito's prey. The guy just vanished one day without saying a word. Broke everybody's hearts. I always figured he just got bored or something. Why—you know him?"

Fai was shaking his head in disbelief and unleashed a string of nonsense that sounded to Kurogane's experienced ears like profanity. "I find this very hard to believe, but I suppose I must. That vampire's true name is Yue. And he _did_ vanish one day. He was killed. No one knows how. We knew he was gone because the connection he shared with my mother was destroyed."

"Connection?"

"He was her brother. Another child of Clow Reed. Your friend Touya was feeding one of the most powerful vampires in the world. How in _hell_ did you manage to be one of the last people to see him alive?!" Fai cried out, throwing his hands into the air dramatically.

"It's not like I did it on purpose," Kurogane snorted.

Fai abruptly abandoned his little fit and began to laugh. "You are the most impossible . . . I have never . . ." He shook his head and laughed like a lunatic. Kurogane just stood there with no clue how he'd caused it or how he was supposed to stop it. Fai was clearly insane.

"Come," he said finally, gesturing for Kurogane's hand with his own outstretched. "Let us look in there again and see what we can find. I need to see what you might know without even being aware of it."

Kurogane took a step back. "No. I mean. Not right now. You can't just walk around in my fucking head whenever you want. It's _my_ head. It's not a jungle gym. And I don't know if I really like you enough to share all my fucking memories with you anyway. In case you hadn't noticed, they're personal."

Fai's face softened. "I understand. But—"

"I don't get what you're doing or how you do it or anything," Kurogane interrupted. "Pardon me if I'm not that happy about it. I mean, aren't you supposed to see people's dreams and futures? How are you getting my past?"

Fai nodded slowly, and Kurogane could see for just a second that he, too, was deeply troubled by all this. "You'd be surprised at how often your past is part of your future," he murmured, his index finger pressed to his lip. "But I will admit that I don't know how I am able to do this with you. It shouldn't be possible. The closest thing I have for comparison is my bond with Suu, and that took practice and doesn't run as deep."

Kurogane glowered at him. "And you're surprised that I don't want you experimenting with it on me?"

Fai shrugged. "I cannot blame you for that. But the fact remains that Yue's death is a mystery we had begun to despair of solving, and you have knowledge that we do not. If you are willing to tell me what you know, in as much detail as possible, then I will try to content myself with that. But I hope I can convince you to trust me, so that I can see it for myself."

Kurogane crossed his arms and was silent. Fai was going to have to do better than hope.

"Would it make you feel any more at ease, if you saw what my power looks like being used on someone else? When I dream with a human?"

Kurogane was reminded that he already knew someone who could tell him what it was like. "That sounds like a pretty private thing for some human to be letting me watch."

Fai's hopeful little smile slipped.

"So it's a good thing he's a total exhibitionist. Let me watch you do it to Shizuka."

* * *

She smelled exactly like she tasted. Sunlight and blooming flowers and a subtle hint of vanilla, the whole thing. It was horrible.

And her hair. Kurogane was going to have actual, serious words with Shizuka about her hair.

"You must be Kurogane," she said, tipping her head to the side and offering him what had to be the sweetest smile he'd seen since Tomoyo died. "It's so nice to meet you!"

"Yeah."

"He's told me all about you, and I was hoping we'd get to meet each other sometime."

"You did?" Kurogane was taken aback by that. Wasn't it kind of weird to be interested in meeting somebody's _other_ lover? Kurogane himself was well-used to the idea that Shizuka was dating and having sex with other people, but it seemed like the sort of thing you were supposed to get jealous and upset about.

"Of course!" she said, undeterred. "Since Shizuka likes you so much, I knew I would, too."

"It doesn't bother you at all that I'm undead and drink his blood."

"Don't be silly! You can't help what you are, of course, and Shizuka's told me how nice you are."

"I am not _nice_."

"Told you that'd just embarrass him," Shizuka smirked, the first words out of him since he and Himawari had walked through the front door.

"I suppose the idea of vampires scared me when I was little, but after I started dreaming, I figured out that I'm meant to be with a vampire myself," Himawari said, leaning toward him like she was taking him into her confidence. "I've done my best to learn anything I can, so I'm ready for it. I've realized there's nothing to be afraid of. And you just seem so trustworthy, Kurogane!"

Simple. The girl had to be simple-minded, it was the only explanation. How could anyone be so irrationally cheerful in this situation? Kurogane cast a suspicious look at Shizuka and was flabbergasted by the fond, almost proud look on his face. This was not the type of girl Kurogane had expected.

"It's funny. His heart doesn't even beat, yet somehow he still gives you the impression that he's about to have a heart attack."

Kurogane made a swipe for Shizuka's head, but he ducked and Kurogane lost interest in the blow halfway through. His arm ended up settling over Shizuka's shoulder and he leaned close to his ear.

"Is she insane?" he muttered.

"If you act jealous I'm going to ruin your chances with Yuui," Shizuka muttered back.

Kurogane ground his teeth. He was going to enthrall this guy and his principles be damned. Nobody should have this much sass in them. It couldn't be healthy.

Himawari was smiling at them like she'd never seen anything more wonderful than her boyfriend in the arms of his homosexual lover. She was insane at the very least, and probably simple on top of it. But still, she was kind of cute and she apparently made Shizuka happy, so he should probably just get over it.

"I'm really looking forward to meeting Fai, too. Shizuka says he might be able to help me understand my dreams better. He said you'll be coming along, too?"

"Yeah," Kurogane said. "I really want to know how this dreaming thing works, and it's starting to look like what you guys are dreaming about might be important anyway. I mean, as long as it's okay with you. I don't know what he told you, but Fai's gonna be messing around in your head, and you don't really know me, either."

"I'm fine with it as long as Shizuka's there," she said, her smile finally fading to something merely polite. "I don't really have anything to hide."

"She's a little nervous," Shizuka said, and ducked away from Kurogane to go over to her and take her hand and twine their fingers together. "But there's nothing to worry about. Fai's abilities aren't harmful, and there's nobody involved I don't trust."

"And I trust you," she said softly.

"Well, we might as well head over there," Kurogane said, averting his eyes before they started making out or something. "Best to just get it over with."

"We're driving."

Kurogane bared his teeth unhappily before thinking that maybe it would scare Himawari. He'd rather just run, and he'd probably get there faster. Himawari's eyes were wide and fixed on his fangs, and Kurogane clamped his mouth shut quickly.

"Uh, sorry."

"I should probably get used to that kind of thing!" she said with a nervous laugh. "I'm ready to go whenever you are, boys."

So they piled into the car and drove to Fai's. Kurogane knocked perfunctorily but let them all in without waiting for Lucia to answer the door. They were already expected, and he'd been coming in and out of this house non-stop for the past three days already.

"Ah, there you are," Fai said, coming to meet them from the direction of the kitchen. "Kurogane, I hear I missed your last visit."

Kurogane heard the hard note in his voice and tried to think of something to say about that. He'd come by this morning because he had a couple of questions about lineage, like wondering whether or not Yue had any surviving children, but Fai hadn't been here. He'd been out hunting to let off some steam. Somehow Yuui had talked Kurogane into staying. They hadn't been doing anything, just watching television (Kurogane still didn't see the appeal, no matter how Yuui insisted it was fun), but Yuui had draped himself onto Kurogane like he _wanted_ Kurogane to lose control over his scent and drink from him. Yuui had told him a few stories about the places he'd been to in Africa, and Kurogane had mostly just let him talk.

Yuui must have told Fai about it. Kurogane felt absurdly guilty about it, like he had gone behind Fai's back. Yuui was a grown man and was obviously capable of deciding who he wanted to spend time with. And they'd just been watching television, with Kurogane's hands very carefully at his sides and nowhere else. But it still felt like he was having an affair or something. Which was ridiculous because technically it was Shizuka he was cheating on, and Shizuka didn't care at all.

"Ah, yeah, I'd actually wanted to talk to you. But it wasn't anything urgent, so we can deal with it later."

"Indeed," Fai said. And that was all he said to Kurogane. He turned instead to the humans. "Welcome. Thank you for coming, Shizuka. This must be Himawari!"

"Yeah. Himawari, this is Fai, the one who's going to guide our dreams."

Fai crossed the room to pick up her hand and kiss it. " _Enchante, ma belle_ , _et bienvenue._ "

She giggled and dipped into a little curtsy. "Ah, _je suis très heurese de vous recontrer_!"

" _Parlez vous français?_ " Fai looked completely delighted and was still holding her hand. Well, at least he wasn't getting all pissy with Kurogane anymore. Kurogane let the two of them chatter away like monkeys for a minute before he looked at Shizuka pointedly. Shizuka rolled his eyes in return, but he obediently cleared his throat.

"Ah, we are being rude to these two gentlemen," Fai said, giving her hand a squeeze before letting her go. "Let us stick with a language we all know."

"Sorry," Himawari laughed, returning to Shizuka's side and slipping her arm into his. "I don't get much opportunity to speak French since I did my semester abroad."

"Sounds pretty," Shizuka assured her in his usual extremely brief way. "So, how are we going to do this, anyway? I'm not going to be tired enough to sleep for hours yet."

"The old fashioned way, of course!" came another voice from the kitchen, and Yuui poked his head out. "Give you heavy food and good wine until you cannot keep your eyes open anymore!"

"You are _not_ in there cooking," Kurogane said, immediately striding into the kitchen and finding that Yuui was doing exactly that, an apron protecting his clothes. He was making some kind of potato pie, and there was a bottle of red wine already decanting on the table. "Are you stupid? You nearly died of blood loss two days ago!"

Yuui waved his hand dismissively. "You sound just like my brother. Two days is a long time."

"You're about to try to convince me you don't have a massive headache and shaking knees, and I am not going to believe you," Kurogane said, giving Yuui's knees a pointed look.

"Calm down," he said, still dismissive. "I'm nearly finished with preparations, and then I just pop this in the oven and wait. My head doesn't hurt that—"

Kurogane was able to literally watch the blood recede from his face, and the dizzy spell hit him so abruptly that he looked more comically surprised than anything. Kurogane caught him before he fell.

"You. Are. So. Stupid."

Fai was hovering in the doorway, mouth locked in a frown.

"My head does rather hurt," he admitted. "You really must stop rescuing me so dramatically or I will begin to get _ideas_ , Kurogane."

"You keep saving all your swooning for him, and it will be me getting ideas," Fai said darkly.

"Let's save any unpleasantness for when I do not feel quite so much like someone is hammering on my skull. While underwater."

Kurogane put Yuui down in a chair at the table, where he immediately put his head on his forearms. "Can someone please get me a glass of water?"

Fai rushed to do so. "There's more of the beef broth in the refrigerator, if you'd be good enough to warm it up," he said to Kurogane.

Kurogane quickly located it and got it heating in a pan on the stove. Fai had Yuui leaning back against him as he drank his water.

Himawari and Shizuka had wandered in by this point, and Himawari immediately started looking at Yuui's abandoned meal preparations.

"Is this potatoes au gratin? You're making it with ham?"

Yuui had his eyes screwed shut, but he turned his face in Himawari's direction and spoke with a note of hope. "You know how to make it? You could finish it for me."

"Um. I'd love to, but. Well."

"She can't boil a pan of water without burning it," Shizuka said flatly.

Kurogane rolled his eyes. "I'll finish it if you tell me how."

Fai and Yuui were both giving him doubtful looks.

"He's not that bad of a cook," Shizuka said.

"By which you mean 'better than you' which isn't exactly hard."

Since Fai did not technically _need_ to breathe, his long-suffering sigh was purely for dramatic effect. "I will finish the cooking. Yuui, you are . . . You _salaud_."

Kurogane poured the warm broth into a mug and brought it to the table so Fai could take over at the stove. "I don't know what a _salaud_ is, but if you don't drink this I'm gonna shove it down your throat. _And_ you're eating some of whatever you're cooking."

Yuui opened his mouth.

"No, shut up."

Yuui sheepishly lifted the mug of broth to his lips and kept quiet. Shizuka and Himawari joined them at the table and Kurogane took over the responsibility of pouring them some of the wine that was waiting.

"Himawari," Fai said over his shoulder. "Please do tell me more about yourself. Do you study French at the university?"

"Only for fun," she answered. "I'm actually studying business management. Although Shizuka and I met in a class on the philosophy of death and dying."

"There's a class on that?" Kurogane asked in disbelief.

"Mmm," Himawari confirmed, her mouth occupied with sloshing her first sip of wine around her mouth. "Oooo, that's lovely, I can taste the blackberries."

"You three should come in and give a guest lecture," Shizuka said, taking a long drink of his own wine after sniffing it carefully. "I think that would be enlightening."

Yuui chuckled, holding his mug close to face and wrapping his hands around it to soak in the warmth. He was far from being fully recovered, and Kurogane would bet his hands were freezing. At least he had the good sense to be wearing a warm shirt.

"I can't even imagine the uproar that would cause among our kind," Fai snickered, and slid the casserole dish into the oven. "There. Himawari, how long ago did you study abroad?"

They chatted about inconsequentials while waiting for the food to cook, mostly about Shizuka and Himawari's schooling. After Fai had retrieved the food and ensured a dish was in front of Yuui as well as the two guests, he moved the topic to slightly more urgent matters.

"Now, then, tell me a bit about the dreams you've had."

"I've been having them since I was a teenager," she said, setting her fork down after only a few bites. She'd better watch it, Shizuka would move in on her plate once he got done with his, which didn't seem like it would take him long. "I've had a few dreams of things I shouldn't know . . . I knew my mother would die for nearly two years before she actually passed away. I knew what university I would go to before I started filling out applications. But the dreams I think you're interested in . . . they're harder to explain. It's mostly darkness, and it's more impressions I get than images or anything. It's . . . there's a lot of blackness, and I just know that somewhere out there, someone is drowning. That's what it feels like. Like I'm seeing someone drown and I'm reaching out to help them but they're facing away from me and they can't see me at all. I can hear . . . It's not like really hearing. But I _know_ how lonely and scared they feel, like they're crying somehow."

"You also dreamed of Doumeki, did you not?"

"In a way. I kept dreaming of a hand reaching up out of the darkness, the drowning one reaching up for help, and I'd see another hand reaching down. I always see their fingers brushing together, and then I wake up. And when your whole dream is just someone's hand, you get to know the hand pretty well."

Shizuka actually paused eating long enough to splay one of his hands out on top of the table. Himawari placed her own over his and smiled at him.

"I knew it was him as soon as I saw him taking notes a few seats away."

"And so you thought you'd just go up to him and tell him you'd been having crazy dreams about his hand?" Kurogane asked her. Well, it was Shizuka, it would hardly phase him, but she wouldn't have known that at the time.

"He'd been watching me the whole period. I just assumed he'd dreamed of me, too. And he had! So we compared notes, and we decided we're both dreaming and aiming toward the same person—the same vampire, to be more precise. And we decided we're happier waiting for him together."

It was disturbingly cute. Kurogane didn't really like the smell of food or anything, but he almost wished he had some, just so he'd have a plate to focus on and not have to look at the two of them being all soft-eyed at one another.

"You haven't thus far seen or heard anything that would give you an idea of the identity of this vampire, have you?" Fai asked.

"Fai might know who it is already, if you have any idea what they look like or sound like," Yuui said through a mouthful of potatoes.

"No," Himawari said reluctantly, after a moment of thought. "I always get the impression of dark hair, but that's all so far. We really did think it might be Kurogane at first, but it isn't."

"No, it isn't," Fai agreed.

_Good_

Kurogane jerked in surprise. He wasn't entirely certain that had been _his_ thought in his head. He and Himawari were not exactly destined to be together for all eternity, and he was pretty thankful she wasn't dreaming of him, but the dry edge of the passing thought seemed foreign. He cast a wide-eyed look at Fai, but Fai was looking at Himawari and didn't notice.

"Well, it's something to go on, anyway," Yuui said encouragingly. He was actually attempting to eat, although his forehead was furrowed up with pain. "Fai, you ought to be able to get pretty far since you at least know what you're looking for."

"I hope so."

"We brought sleeping pills in case we needed them, but I don't think we'll have to take them," Shizuka said. "This wine is incredible."

"Lush," Kurogane said, an old joke between them.

"You drink way more than I do," Shizuka answered easily.

Himawari giggled, and Fai was looking at them like a proud grandfather or something. It looked completely ridiculous on his unlined, youthful face. Kurogane really hoped he got the chance to drink from Shizuka a bit before the wine faded from his system. Whatever he'd been drinking with Himawari last night had been decent enough, but the smell of this one was promising.

"Yuui, did you want some, before we end up finishing the whole bottle?"

Yuui perked up.

"He doesn't need alcohol right now," Fai said repressively, before Kurogane could.

But Yuui's pout was so outrageous that Fai caved in and let him. He toasted the other two humans and the three of them quickly polished off what remained of the wine. Then Fai led them down the hall and into an unused bedroom that Kurogane hadn't seen before. He knew Lucia was in the bedroom closest to the kitchen, and he hadn't even know there was another room behind the door across from hers.

"Hey, where's the housekeeper?" he asked when he realized he hadn't seen Lucia yet.

"She went to Kusanagi's home, actually. She is spending some time with Yuzuriha and helping her feel as though she has a friend here. And probably also cleaning their house from floor to ceiling, knowing her."

Fai then turned his attention to ensuring that Shizuka and Himawari were situated on the bed, which was just barely big enough for the both of them. Fai was gentle and full of humour as he directed them to lie down and get comfortable, well-practiced in his role as their dream guide. Some vampire was a lucky guy, Kurogane couldn't help but think, seeing them together with Himawari's hair spilling over the pillow. They were a beautiful pair.

Yuui was a warm weight leaning against Kurogane's back, watching his twin work. He was acting like the wine had gotten to him, but Kurogane suspected he was using it as an excuse to drape himself like a living accessory on Kurogane's shoulder. At least he was quiet.

Fai's lilting voice soothed the two humans, speaking in a hypnotic rhythm and driving them down into sleep. Once he was sure they were under, he stood up.

"Come, we have a while to wait before they begin to dream. Let's retire to the other room where we won't chance rousing them."

They obediently trailed him back out to the sitting room, and the twins sat together on the sofa while Kurogane took a chair.

"Now then," Fai said, voice forcedly pleasant. "Shall we take this opportunity to discuss the rather enormous elephant in the room?"

None of them were going to play the fool enough to pretend they didn't know what he meant. Kurogane looked at Yuui and so did Fai. Yuui grimaced at them.

"Must we do this before I am recovered?"

"It's probably the only chance we're going to get before the consequences of executing Kyle begin to take effect."

"True."

"So, here is my question: are you doing this simply because it amuses you to get Kurogane flustered, or are you trying to punish me for hurting you?"

Yuui's face when he turned to look at Kurogane was miserable. "Neither."

"I was afraid of that," Fai murmured.

"So what the hell does that mean?"

Yuui was very quiet.

"Look, do we even need to talk about this?" Kurogane asked. "The two of you have—whatever it is you have, and it's fine if that's the way you are, so that's the end of it."

Silence.

"Isn't it?"

"Yuui?" Fai asked in a tight, harsh voice.

"Fucking hell," Kurogane muttered.

"Does it mean I love you any less, Fai?" Yuui asked in a soft, small voice. "If I were to say 'yes, I am falling madly for him' does that have to mean I no longer want to be with you?"

"You can't be with both of us," Kurogane pointed out when Fai didn't answer the question.

"Why not?" Yuui asked.

"Why _not_ ," Kurogane choked.

"Well?" Yuui demanded, sounding angry. "Are we not meeting tonight to help that _couple in the spare bedroom_ find the vampire they're going to join _together_? And suddenly we are squeamish about the idea that three people can be together simply because we are talking about ourselves instead of someone else? Fai, you've never had the slightest problem with Suu and Ora and Kazuhiko—"

"It's different because it's you!" Fai snapped. "Because— because you are my—"

"I am not asking to leave your side," Yuui said, taking Fai's hand and caressing it. "I don't want that."

"Then what _do_ you want?" Kurogane asked.

"For you to join me there," Yuui said plainly. "Please, we've all lived long enough that we don't need to play games about this. I want both of you. That's all."

Fai and Kurogane had been trying to avoid making eye contact, but suddenly it seemed inevitable and they stared each other down.

_I want him to be happy_

Kurogane wasn't sure which of them thought it, but it didn't seem important just then to try to sort it out. Could they actually share Yuui, without killing him or each other in the process? Did Yuui even understand he was asking Fai, a prince, to grant the most incredible favour he possessed to someone who was essentially a bastard? Well, he wasn't stupid, so of course he knew.

"Kurogane, come here," Fai said.

Instead of bristling at being ordered, Kurogane did, and Yuui shifted over so that he could sit between his old lover and the one he hoped to gain. He held both of them by the hand.

"My brother has remained at my side for over a hundred years," Fai said slowly. "He lets me drink his blood and tie him to my eternal life, simply because he knows I couldn't do this without him. He could have chosen to let his life end a long time ago, but he stays with me. He puts up with the politics of my kind and my strange whims and the midnight visitors whom I lie down and dream with. He does not ever ask me for anything."

"Fai, you know I—"

"Let me say what I wish to say," Fai said, squeezing Yuui's hand.

Kurogane was staring down at Yuui's hand clasped over his own like it was completely foreign in concept. He could not get his mind to wrap around this conversation, and never mind that he'd technically been participating in a _ménage a trois_ already for a couple of weeks now. This was more than just an accident of who he was feeding from. This was a request to step into their world and become embroiled in Fai's family drama. To involve himself. The thing he had always tried so hard to never do.

Was this hand worth it?

"Kurogane, if you can make Yuui happy that I will not object to this. I know you and I are not— ready to trust each other yet. But I will try. For Yuui, I will try."

Yuui's hand squeezed around his more and more desperately as the silence stretched. Kurogane had to remind himself how to inflate his lungs.

"I don't know why I'd even want this," he said. "I think you're an idiot and you drive me crazy and you don't stop talking even when you're in the middle of passing out."

Yuui's face drew tight with surprise and hurt.

"So I guess that means I'm an idiot too," he muttered, and brushed his thumb over the back of Yuui's hand.

Yuui gasped, and pressed both of their hands to his mouth to kiss them, and while they were all three joined in touch for a moment, a warm current of affection flooded through Kurogane. He didn't know where it originated. For that moment, all three of them loved each other desperately. It lasted one of Yuui's heartbeats and then he lowered their hands and it was over. Kurogane felt hollowed out when it was gone.

Fai kept acting like he was going to say something but not doing it. Just when Kurogane was about to snap at him and tell him to just spit it out already, he finally spoke.

"We will have to explore what this will mean for us another time. I have work to do with our guests."

Fai stood up and headed for the bedroom. That left Yuui and Kurogane still sitting there together on the sofa for a moment. Doubtless that was Fai's intention.

"This is crazy. You know that, right?"

Yuui turned and kissed him.

Kurogane wasted a good couple of seconds being in total shock before he could make his mouth respond. It was a terrible kiss, honestly. The angle was awkward and Kurogane was still faintly disbelieving of the whole thing and they had no familiarity with each other's bodies. But Kurogane put his hand on Yuui's jaw and turned him to make the angle better, and they kept at it until he was certain it was really happening.

"It doesn't have to be like that if you're not interested," Yuui said, pulling his head back suddenly. "I of all people do know that vampires do not strictly—"

"You think that's how I kiss when I'm not interested?"

"I only meant—"

"You're totally a _salaud_ , whatever the hell that is." Kurogane dragged him back in to resume the kiss. Just because he wasn't aroused didn't mean he wasn't enjoying it. He dug his fingers into Yuui's shoulders and scented along his neck, his nose and mouth dragging over the sensitive skin. He caught his mouth again and kissed Yuui long enough to make his point, then pushed him away with a hand to his chest. "Now come on, I want to see about this dreaming stuff. We can save this for when you're a little less of a walking disaster."

Yuui laughed delightedly. "You will be waiting an awfully long time for _that_."

"I'm beginning to realize," Kurogane muttered, and hauled Yuui to his feet.

Fai was sitting on the bed when they came in. He had Shizuka's head in his lap and his palms pressed to his temples. His eyes were closed, but he opened them long enough to look at Kurogane.

"Come put your hands over mine," he said calmly. "After what we've already been able to do with each other, I feel that you might be able to see what I am seeing."

The bed was rather full. Kurogane had to sit behind Fai to do it, wrapping his arms around him in an intimate embrace. It was a terribly awkward thing, but after only a moment, Kurogane's stiffness melted away. This didn't feel strange at all, it felt good. It wasn't the craving that he had for Yuui, the desire to open him up and to taste him, but it wasn't indifference either. Their minds seemed meant to work in tandem. Kurogane felt Fai relax with his back against Kurogane's chest. He felt it, too. They were good like this.

Maybe this whole thing with the three of them could work, he thought, and then he went under.

_Silent static_

_Not darkness nor whiteness nor anything_

_Drifting in a nothingness_

_Someone else is here_

_Find them_

_Find them and help them_

_Nobody should be so afraid and so alone_

_Push at static with your bare hands_

_Where is he?_

_Save him before he drowns_

_Who will get us out?_

_Where is. . . There_

_Himawari_

_So blindingly bright against the nothing_

_She's looking at him_

_Can't see him_

_Can't see what she sees_

Fai broke the link and lifted their hands away from Shizuka's head. "It's not quite what I saw before," he said. "It's gaining shape. It didn't have a form before at all, but now it's like . . . Like . . ."

"Like he's looking in a certain direction," Kurogane supplied.

"Yes, that exactly. But which direction?" Fai asked in frustration.

"Maybe she knows," Kurogane said. Fai was so fully in his arms that he didn't even have to gesture, Fai could simply feel his attention focus on Himawari.

Fai slid his hands over Himawari's temples, and Kurogane didn't even bother adding his own hands. He just rested his chin on Fai's shoulder and waited.

_Nothingness like a stormy sky_

_Nothingness like ocean waves_

_Choppy dark nothing_

_He's so sad_

_Where is he?_

_Can't stand how lonely he is_

_Both of them_

_So alone_

_Go to them_

_They need each other_

_Need all three of us_

_Their hands always reach out but never catch_

_Wonderful hands_

Kurogane felt Fai leading them onward, further than Himawari knew how to go. He was following the feeling of loss. He was tracking and hunting and honing in on that keening emptiness. The hand rising above choppy waves of absolute zero.

_There_

_Oh there you are_

_We came for you_

_We promised_

_Take my hand_

_Turn around_

_We're here_

_Blue eyes_

_So beautiful such blue eyes so_ beautiful _there you are my love_

_Come home to us_

_Take his hand he loves you_

Fai pulled away his hands. He flung them out of Himawari's mind with violence. His hand found Kurogane's arm and gripped it tight. He did not speak. He did not even breathe. He was silent and rigid until Yuui came and laid his hand gently on top of Fai's and tried to loosen his grip on Kurogane.

"Fai. Did you see him? Do you recognize him?"

Fai pressed Yuui's hand to his cheek and made no movement to escape the cage of Kurogane's arms. "Oh," he whispered.

"Did you see him?" Yuui asked Kurogane desperately.

"Yeah. I think . . . I mean I don't know, but it seemed like I should know him . . ."

"It's Kimihiro," Fai finally said. "These two have been dreaming for years of my brother Kimihiro." His hand touched Shizuka's hair softly. "They're going to save him."

* * *

They deposited Yuui into bed, but Fai didn't seem intent on joining him. He was restless and troubled, and so was Kurogane. They both needed to relax and regroup. They were just standing over the bed staring down at Yuui as he slept and wishing they could join him.

"Hey. Let's go hunting," Kurogane said abruptly.

Fai looked up, and in the dark Kurogane saw his pupils growing. "Oh, let's do,' he nearly purred.

They were out the back door and tearing over the silent streets in an instant. Fai was leaping over cars just for the pure hell of it, but Kurogane was leading, taking him toward the edge of the city where they could find his favourite hunting ground. They weren't running flat-out, not as fast as they could. They would save that for the hunt.

Kurogane led them to a thin patch of forest outside of town. Their running and their predator scent disturbed the wildlife and they gave chase. The night air was cool and the moon was high. There was a buzzing in their veins. Fai laughed in pleasure, and Kurogane followed suit.

They were made for this.

They hunted quick, bright shadows through the trees. They moved too fast to be seen. They did not tire. They moved together like they were one being. They were gods.

They let go everything they caught, not needing to kill when they were so flush with pride at their success. And when the sky greyed and then pinked at the edges and everything drew a coating of dew over itself like a sparkling shawl, they withdrew. They returned to the house just at dawn.

Kurogane collapsed into a kitchen chair and felt heavy with satisfaction. He was relaxed and easy for the first time in days, and he watched Fai land beside him and knew the other vampire felt the same. They were both damp and dirty and entirely too happy to care. Fai had moss stuck in his hair, though, so Kurogane reached out and started untangling the mess.

Fai sat still until he was done, but when Kurogane got up to find a garbage bin, Fai got up and pressed close to him the second he turned around.

"I think we just went on a date," he said.

Kurogane was very still as he tried to work out why Fai was three inches away from him. Kurogane had just wanted to get them both out of the house and help them wind down while the humans slept, and he'd guessed that Fai would enjoy hunting as much as he would.

So maybe it was sort of a date. If you squinted at it. And had suddenly gone mad. Perhaps Fai had suddenly gone mad.

"You've been a surprise at every turn from the moment I met you," Fai said, voice hushed. His hair took on a strange gleam in the hint of light coming through the kitchen curtains. "And the worst part of it is that I don't even mind it. You and I have a bond I've never had before. Yuui has never looked at anyone else twice in all this time, but suddenly he wants you and I find myself agreeing to it. It's like you were supposed to be here all along."

Kurogane had slowly backed up against the kitchen counter, and felt it press against his back. He hadn't liked any of this from the beginning. He didn't like how good Yuui smelled and how funny his dumb jokes somehow were. He didn't like how easy it was to link his mind to Fai's and how natural it felt when they connected. He didn't like how seamlessly he fit in here. Except that he _did_.

Fai pressed a kiss to his lips. "If Yuui hadn't asked you to stay I think I would have," he murmured, and remained there, laying against Kurogane's chest and pressing their cheeks and jaws together.

The hunt had helped, but he was frightened and worried. Kurogane could feel it. He put his arms around Fai. He'd never been kissed by another vampire before. It wasn't desire, it was more like seeking or maybe granting comfort. Kurogane didn't mind which.

They stayed in their embrace for quite some time. Kurogane hadn't done this before. Just stood in someone's arms, held them in his like this. He didn't have this kind of bond with his prey. He didn't have anyone to do this with. He would never have allowed this kind of intimacy with his family. It made his skin ache to have it, longing for more of it even as it was given to him.

Fai seemed to feel it. He murmured something unintelligible and brushed his lips along Kurogane's jaw, seeking his mouth and kissing him again. He shifted as if hoping to somehow make their intertwining even more intimate. Kurogane already had his arms around Fai, and now he let his head fall onto his shoulder. Fai's fingers crept through his hair.

"I want your help," he said. Enough time had passed that the light around them was golden and sharp.

"With what?"

"Trying to remember who made me."

"Oh."

"We're about to go meet with a bunch of them, and one of them might be my maker and I'd never even know."

"Wouldn't that be embarrassing?" Fai murmured. "All right, I'll help you. We might as well. The others won't wake for some time yet."

"Let's just do it here," Kurogane mumbled, unwilling to end their embrace, and dragged up the memory of his father again.

_He is screaming a wordless battle cry. He is turning his head toward the door. He is shouting at the youth. He is wielding that broken chair with surprising skill._

Kurogane drew away from the memory. "Huh. Something's weird."

"What is?"

"Nothing."

_The youth runs through the door. He is outside, in the yard. He is standing over the other youth who lies dead there, tossed aside like a blood-soaked rag doll, a pair of glasses cracked and hanging off his face and reflecting the blazing fire of the burning homes._

" _Eriol, no."_

Kurogane pulled away again, grimacing. "That's Tomoyo's brother. He was an ass and lorded it over me because I didn't know how to read, but he did a good job of taking care of his mother and sister so I didn't kick his ass. Something's weird about this. I keep seeing myself. Why am I in my own memory?"

Fai was frowning. "I don't know. I don't see you. I just see the other boy. Eriol. Do you want to stop?"

"No."

_Coming out of the house. The youth kicks down the burning door, the girl's arms and legs wrapped around him tight. They are coughing from smoke. His eyes are looking at the desolate inferno that was a small community before tonight. He is grim and running for the horse paddock._

" _Hey, hush, there's my boy, come on, shh shh shh."_

_The soothing words spoken to the horse with rolling eyes and stamping feet are surprising. Murmured comfort rolls off his tongue as though the horse's terror is more important than his own. The youth has an iron will and impossible courage. He soothes the frightened animal with one hand while the other holds up the girl he carries. Her long dark hair is spilling over the shoulders of her nightdress when he shoves her onto the horse's back._

" _Go. You know how fast Ginryuu is. He'll get you out of here."_

" _Mama," the girl is crying. "Eriol, oh Eriol. Kurogane, I'm afraid. Please come with me. I can't."_

_His hands force hers closed over the bridle. No reins, no saddle. She'll tumble off the animal in the dark._

" _I'm right behind you, okay? I'm going to make sure none of them are following you, and then I'll come find you."_

" _Kurogane, please."_

" _I'll be right behind you, I swear it. I'll find you. Now go!"_

_The gate in the fence is open. He slaps the horse's gleaming silver flank, and it bolts. The girl screams once, high and desperate, then she leans forward and focuses on the ride. They are gone. And the youth turns around._

Fai choked, and backpedaled, both hands on Kurogane's chest to shove himself away. He crashed over his own abandoned chair and instead of gracefully righting himself, he fell against the table.

"What?" Kurogane rasped. He saw himself turning around, but what? Had Fai jumped ahead and seen more?

Fai's hands clutched into the table so fiercely that the wood groaned and cracked and splintered. "I don't think we're seeing the same thing."

"What do you mean?"

"You said you see yourself, from a distance. I'm not seeing it. I only see what you were seeing. I'm in your memory, Kurogane, but I think you're in a different one."

"That doesn't make any sense," he objected.

Fai drove himself up off the table and back to Kurogane in a blur, grabbing his face in his hands and snarling, "Look, you fool. _Look_."

_He picks up a pitchfork that leaned against the fence. "If you even try to follow her, I'll fucking kill you."_

_Pity this poor creature, this tiny youth. He is so brave. "You think you can kill me, child?"_

" _Man enough to kill you if you try to hurt her. She's a little girl! She's just a kid! Leave her alone! Take me, come on!"_

_Just children, both of them. Hurting children is sad, somehow, isn't it?_

" _You have some kind of conscience in there? Do you? You're really such a monster that you'd go kill a little girl?"_

" _No."_

_How long since last you spoke to a human? Since last you looked at a human and saw more than their scent and their impending death? Brave youth, he is making you think and you do not like it. It hurts._

" _Why are you doing this, then?"_

_His eyes are on the burning house next door. His family. They are dead, by now._

" _Have I taken your family?"_

_His hands are trembling on his makeshift weapon. There is hay in his hair and it breaks your heart. If only you had one to break._

" _You took everything," he says harshly._

" _I could give you a new family." Why would you do that? Why does it hurt to think that you took from him and give nothing in return? Why does it hurt to think of him as a bleeding doll in the yard like the other boy? Is it his fierce courage or the hay in his hair? "I could make you strong enough to protect her. I could . . ."_

_His answer is to run screaming at you. You side-step his rush, but let your hand be caught by the tine of the pitchfork, tearing open your flesh. You grab his wrist with your other hand. You tear open his palm with your teeth. You press your bleeding hands together and drink in the scent of him. It mixes with the smoke and the blood, but you smell him like cool water and hot summer sun. It is the last time he will smell this good. You will take from him even this._

_And then the others come, and you are afraid of what they will do, and you let him crumple at your feet and then you run. Take them the other way, so they won't know about the girl. The brave youth tried so hard to protect her, and he is yours now. You will protect her, too._

Fai slid bonelessly to the floor at Kurogane's feet. "You're seeing yourself, aren't you?" he muttered, and buried his face in his hands. "We're sharing memories, Kurogane. Both of us. Don't you understand yet? I'm looking at yours and you're looking at mine."

Kurogane almost remembered the sensation of nausea. He honestly wondered for a moment if he was going to be sick. Fai knelt on the floor with his face covered by shaking hands, and Kurogane stepped deliberately away from him. He didn't breathe or blink or do anything. He stood in numb disbelief. Fai's memories. Fai's memories of that night. Because Fai was there. Fai, following him and watching him.

He remembered. He remembered the eerie glow of blue eyes and the way the fire shone off the flaxen hair, the splashes of blood on the vampire's clothes. He remembered seeing Eriol flung into the yard like a broken toy. He remembered his father screaming at him to go find Tomoyo. He remembered thinking his father would somehow get himself and Mother out of the house. He remembered turning around in the horse paddock and seeing the monster staring at him, and feeling so terribly angry that he would have to break his promise to follow Tomoyo.

He remembered burning. The skyline on fire and the flesh of his hand burning so hot, and the vampire leaving him there and running.

He remembered.

"You—" he croaked. "You were— you made me."

"I'm sorry," Fai said.

"You—"

Kurogane snatched Fai up by his shirt and hauled him to his feet and shook him. " _Why_?"

Fai's hands and face were streaked with blood. There was blood everywhere. He was weeping. Kurogane had thought it was impossible for vampires to cry, but there was blood oozing from his eyes and he was shaking with the force of his tears.

"No no no no no," Fai whispered desperately, seeming incapable of anything else.

" _Fai_ ," came a strangled voice in the doorway. Yuui. Yuui was running in, dragging Fai out of Kurogane's hands, holding him tight. "Fai, no, _ma chere_ , what is it, what's wrong?"

Fai hunched away, trying to keep all the blood from smearing onto his twin. Pointless, wasn't it? Half of that was Yuui's blood to begin with.

"We were trying to find the memory of the vampire who made me," Kurogane said.

"It seems you found it," Yuui said helplessly, his hands flicking over Fai and trying to decide on a place to land. "And it seems you know who it is."

"You're looking at him," Kurogane said.

Yuui froze.

"Your fucking brother made me. He and his _friends_ slaughtered everyone I knew and burned down our homes, and then he turned me and just _left me there_."

Fai made a desperate, keening noise of despair. "I'm— Kurogane, _I'm sorry_ , I—"

"I don't give a fuck," Kurogane spat out.

He stalked out the front door and started to run. And he didn't stop. He just ran and ran and he didn't pay attention to where he went. He ran until somehow, he found himself outside of the house where Chitose and the girls lived. Fresh blue paint, and the girls had decorated their room with purple and lace. It was so impossibly human, so impossibly normal, and he leaned his weight against the front door and tried to gather his thoughts there.

He'd always looked after them. Always felt like it was his purpose. He didn't know why he'd been made but he'd promised he'd be right behind Tomoyo and he'd protect her, and so he always had, and her children and her grandchildren after that. They were all he had of being human.

They wouldn't be home, now. The girls would be at school and Chitose at work. Kurogane went around to the side of the house where he couldn't be seen from the street and rested a while in the shade. Family. He'd always felt as though he'd lost one and gained a different one that night. He had forgotten that was the intention all along. Some kind of sick and twisted remorse that crawled up out of Fai's blood-soaked madness had made Kurogane what he was. He'd taken Kurogane's mother and father but had given him Tomoyo's family . . . And his own.

Kurogane didn't want to go back but eventually he did. He was no coward.

He didn't travel as fast on the return journey, but he didn't dawdle, either. He didn't know what he was going to say or do, and he was no closer to making a decision when he returned to the house than he was when he'd left it.

As soon as he put a hand on the door, he smelled it. Felt it. Felt power crest over him like a wave. He shook his head to clear it and pushed the door open with trepidation.

Fai was in the middle of the sitting room, and there was a woman kissing him. Long tresses of black hair snaked over her back and shoulders. She was tall and composed of beautiful angles, and she had her mouth fast over Fai's, holding him in place with long fingers on his shoulders that ended in red-painted nails.

When she drew away, blood coated both their lips. She'd bitten him.

"You are blood of my blood, always," she said, laying a hand to his cheek. "Do not fear, my child, we will weather this storm together."

There was a strange thrumming in Kurogane's head, and he honestly didn't know if she was speaking any language he understood or not. She was just so powerful that her voice must be heard and obeyed.

She turned, and cut-ruby eyes looked him up and down frankly. Then she stepped forward and took his face in her hands. He would have retreated, but he couldn't move. She bit his lip and her own and kissed him to mingle their blood together.

"You are also blood of my blood," she said. "I am Yuuko, child. I am your mistress, and I welcome you to my family."

"Was that necessary? I don't like being kissed by strange women."

She looked taken aback, but then she laughed. "Fai, my sweet, you have chosen as your child the most uncommonly stubborn creature I have ever seen. He would resist even me simply for the sake of his own stubborn nature." Her nails dug into the flesh of his cheeks. "I am Yuuko, and when I say jump, child, you say 'into which inferno, mistress?' Do you understand?"

Her influence slammed into him and he fell to his knees. "Yes, mistress. Hey!" He shot right back to his feet. "I'm not calling you that."

She laughed again, but she also dragged a long, lacquered nail through the blood she'd drawn on his cheek. "How precious he is. And so handsome."

Kurogane glowered at her as she minced her way over toward the sofa, fully aware that she wasn't hitting him with a fraction of what she could. He'd be in a frilly dress singing arias to entertain her friends if she ever wanted to force him to, and there wasn't a thing he could do about it. It pissed him off entirely. Nobody should be that powerful.

The sofa was occupied, he noticed for the first time. Yuuko's presence had been so overwhelming that he hadn't seen them before. Another woman of beauty and sensuality, her hair a riot of black curls, was reclining with a bare leg outstretched on the cushions, while her other leg was occupied with supporting the weight of the smaller, bird-like girl who sat in her lap and played absently with those curls. The older-looking woman had a hand curled around the girl's waist.

"He is handsome," the curly-haired one purred.

Maybe it was the way the girl perched on her leg that made her seem so bird-like, or maybe the way she tilted her silvery head when she inspected him.

"I suppose."

"Ah. This is my sister Suu, and her child Ora," Fai spoke up.

"I think it's lovely that you've made a child of your own," the little one said. That one must be Suu, then. "Kurogane, I hope it's not too forward of me to welcome you to the family."

"Uh, thanks. Fai, you didn't tell me your whole family was coming here. And why didn't we just go to them in the first place, anyway?"

They'd been rather busy with all the other questions they were trying to answer to focus on this side of things. They probably should have talked about this already.

"I didn't know Suu would come," Fai replied, although he turned and smiled warmly at her. "Not that I'm not pleased to see you."

"We wanted to have a chance to talk away from the rest of our court," Suu answered. "And I do so wish it was the whole family."

They were thinking about Kimihiro, then. The one who'd joined up with Fei Wang Reed's court. The one Shizuka and Himawari were meant to help somehow.

"Did Fai tell you about Shizuka and Himawari?"

Yuuko had gone to stand behind Ora and Suu, and she was the one who answered. "He did. I do not know how you, Kurogane, manage to find what I have spent one hundred years looking for, but I am grateful for it. And I am quite eager to look inside you and see what you know of my brother's death. The time of you coming to us is quite remarkable, but I do not believe in coincidence."

Kurogane opened his mouth to object, then closed it without saying anything. If she wanted to look, she would, and he couldn't stop her. He'd put up the best fight he could of keeping her out, just on principle, but he knew better than to think he'd win.

"Where's Yuui?" he asked instead.

"In the kitchen!" called out Yuui himself, his voice echoing through the doorway.

Kurogane headed for the kitchen, acting as though he had something to say to Yuui when in reality he just wanted to buy himself a minute. Fai's family was overwhelming. He lifted his hand and swiped at the blood still on his chin and cheek, the wounds already healed beneath the smear. His. His family.

Fuck.

Yuui was eating a plateful of eggs and bread with some kind of sauce poured over it.

"You're finally eating without anybody forcing you to, huh?" Kurogane asked dryly.

Yuui leaned forward and lifted his eyebrows teasingly. "I am mostly doing this to hide from the others for a bit. They are my family now, but that does not mean that they are not terrifying."

Kurogane chuckled, glad he wasn't the only one thinking it. "Yeah."

Yuui dragged a chair around so it was beside him, and patted it invitingly, a grin on his face.

"Why?" Kurogane muttered, but was already moving to sit. Yuui pressed himself close to Kurogane's side and tangled their feet together and continued eating. "What are you doing?"

"Cementing your place in the family before you begin to wonder," Yuui said, then smiled and nuzzled his head against Kurogane's shoulder. "But mostly I just wanted to snuggle."

"I don't. _Snuggle_."

"You are doing it right now," Yuui laughed, and kissed his cheek. Kurogane wanted to suddenly blur up out of the chair and dump Yuui on the floor. But that would probably set back his recovery or something. So put his arm around Yuui instead.

Fai's voice suddenly rang out from the other room. "You don't hear it?"

"What do you mean, Fai? Hear what?" Suu asked.

"I don't— Kurogane!" he cried out.

Kurogane shot to Fai's side immediately, and Fai grabbed at his hand.

"I can't quite make out, I need—"

Kurogane was trying to pinpoint inside of Fai's mind what it was he needed, and in doing so accomplished it. He found a voice speaking and brought it into sharp focus.

_Fai please Fai can you hear me please_

"Kimihiro," Fai gasped, squeezing his hand. Suu and Yuuko immediately rushed to them as if being closer would help. "Kimihiro."

_I think I killed him what if I killed him no what have I done Syaoran no please_

_Kimihiro. I hear you._ They were one and the same now, "I" taking on a strange new meaning.

_Fai please did Kyle find you Kyle had the notebook do you have the notebook_

_I have it. What is it?_

_Evidence it's evidence we know Fei Wang Reed killed Yue, Sakura saw it she knows and we found Yue's clothes and there was a note in his clothes that Reed sent asking him to meet and Sakura saw Yue meet with Reed and saw him killed and I took notes on what I knew and I put the note I found in the notebook it's in the notebook and we have to get Sakura out of here before Reed knows what I've done_

_Kimihiro, please try to stay calm. What have you done?_

_I sent Kyle to you I sent him with the notebook and we have what we need to condemn Reed for killing Yue he could be executed for this but Sakura is the only witness and I need to get her to safety before Reed realizes oh Fai please no I'm so deep I came here to find evidence but he's too strong and I can't resist him and he'll know everything the minute he looks deep enough into me and I can't get away I just can't fight him but I had to contact you I had to know if Kyle did it I had to tell you oh no Syaoran my brother my Syaoran I fed from him to get power to resist Reed and I think I've killed him I drained him Fai and I'm slipping already I have to try to save him but it's Sakura that's important now_

_I hear you. I understand. Kimihiro, stay calm. Be brave. We're coming. Mother, and Suu, and I. We will come. We're coming for you. Don't let him see. Stay safe. We're coming for all three of you. Kimihiro, we love you, we—_

The connection snapped, and then it was just Fai holding Kurogane's hand too tightly.

"He's gone," Fai said hollowly. " _Merde_ , I thought I could—" He leaned on Kurogane for a moment, but then Yuuko ripped him away and looked into his eyes and read it all there.

"Oh, we shall come," Yuuko said, her eyes blazing up like a bonfire in the night. "Give me the notebook, Fai. We will gather whomever we can, and then we will go raze that fool's kingdom to the ground."


	4. burn your kingdom down

Part Four

_I have to tell you I've come to burn your kingdom down_

Once a week, Kurogane had told him, Chitose and Sayaka got together at Chitose's house to have coffee and chat. Sayaka's husband took the twin girls and his baby boy and watched them for a few hours so the sisters could spend quality time together.

Humans did such simple and lovely things, was all Fai could think. He was one of the undead, who could live forever, and he took strength and power from drinking the lifeblood of his brother—and yet, didn't the humans have the very best magic? Coffee once a week. Perfect.

And it was their destination now. Fai, Yuui, and Kurogane, walking through the neighbourhood at a pace slow enough for Yuui to keep up. They were leaving in mere hours. They were going to fetch Kimihiro. Shizuka Doumeki and Himawari Kunogi would travel with them. Yuuko had not even had to request it. They had simply stated they would come with the utter conviction possessed by the saints of the faith.

But first Kurogane wanted to say goodbye to his family. And he had asked, with an embarrassment that Yuui clearly found adorable, if they would come with him. So here they were, because it was the least they could do at this point. Fai still didn't know what to make of things. Kurogane had every reason to hate him, but he was practical enough to keep it to himself for now. He supposed it was still a possibility that after this was all over, he would leave them.

Yuui was holding Kurogane's hand while they walked. He didn't seem to think so. There was no hesitation in Fai's twin. Not for the first time, Fai felt his brother's happiness as a heavy weight on his shoulders. Yuui would not be this man if Fai was not here. He would be the drug addict Fai had found a hundred years ago, dying of something nameless and free for the taking to any heartless soul who would have him.

But now Kurogane was here, and it seemed that Fai could easily fade into the background. It seemed he could disappear altogether. Kurogane would care for Yuui, and Fai did not think this child of his would mind the burden. Though he grappled with jealousy, Fai felt a curious relief at knowing Kurogane existed and Yuui would never be that dying man again.

Now that he so clearly remembered the night of Kurogane's making, Fai almost wished to make that a reality. He was overdue the punishment for what he'd done. If he requested exile, then Kurogane and Yuui could freely have what they liked from each other and not take him into account.

How Kurogane must hate him. Fai wondered sickly if Yuui would, as well.

"Fai is moping terribly, Kurogane," Yuui suddenly said, lifting their joined hands and gesturing at Fai with them. "You thought you'd wait to deal with this after our confrontation is over, but I'm not sure it can wait. You two should talk."

"This is hardly the time," Fai huffed.

Kurogane was looking at him. His eyes were calm.

"I hate what happened that night," he said. "But you already served your sentence for it. You don't need to serve it again. You made me against my will, but if you hadn't . . . maybe Tomoyo wouldn't have lived. Maybe you wouldn't have been so desperate to accept Ashura's offer. Maybe Yuui would have died in Africa. Maybe Tomoyo's family wouldn't be here. And we definitely wouldn't be here now to go bring down a tyrant and rescue your brother. I can't regret that."

Each word felt like a blow from his hand. Fai's eyes still ached from rupturing, and he pressed his hands over them.

"It's hard to even look at you and know you're the same person from that night. That's not who you are now. And I guess I'd rather believe in the man who hasn't killed in a hundred years than in somebody who doesn't exist."

Fai couldn't even walk now. He stood on the pavement and tried to find some words he could say. There were none.

Yuui's hand drew Fai's hand away from his eyes, so that he could bend close and kiss him. Fai left his eyes closed, and so he didn't realize at first that Kurogane had also come forward, not until Kurogane's lips replaced Yuui's. Fai stumbled backward and was caught by four hands.

"I'm not saying it's gonna be easy for me, or you, or even Yuui. But we'll figure it out."

"If we even survive this assault we are planning!" Yuui added cheerfully, clasping Fai's hand and dragging him along. "Come on, stop brooding, we must go say our farewells to Kurogane's other family and then rush headlong into certain death!"

Fai didn't want to smile, but he couldn't help it. They resumed walking, and soon they were at a sweet little blue house and Kurogane was knocking on the door. It was broad daylight, and the three of them weren't even concerned today about how they might stand out. They had far greater concerns.

The woman who answered the door was lovely, and so was her sister peering over her shoulder. They both had lines of care around their mouths and eyes, but it only served to make them seem even lovelier. They both had long, dark hair, and they bent their mouths into puzzled frowns in the exact same way. It was easy to see that they were family.

"Kurogane, I didn't know you . . ." The woman trailed off when she saw the other two behind him. "Come in, all three of you. What's happening?"

"Chitose," Kurogane said, nodding his head to indicate the woman who opened the door, "Sayaka," the slightly younger one, "this is Fai, and this is Yuui. They are . . . Well, they're my other family."

"You have other . . .?"

"Fai is the vampire who made me, and Yuui is his brother. Yuui's not a vampire, by the way, but he's prey and he's just as ridiculously old as one."

"I . . . see," Sayaka said awkwardly.

Chitose smiled at them. "Would you like to come inside and sit down? It's very nice to meet you."

" _Enchantee,_ " Yuui said, while Fai was still stricken dumb by her graciousness.

They moved into the room where two cups of lukewarm coffee were sitting on a side table.

"I wanted you guys to meet," Kurogane explained. "I've told them a lot about you and the kids."

"But you haven't told us a thing about them!" Sayaka laughed, but it was half-hearted. Fai had suspected, and now he knew. They had long believed that Kurogane's maker was a heartless killer who had abandoned him.

They were correct, technically. And here he was sitting in their home.

"I only just met them a few days ago," Kurogane shrugged. "They're not what I thought, and I'm glad we found each other. Um, there's more though. It's . . . there's a lot of politics that you guys don't know about, among our kind. And their family—my family—is right in the thick of it. There's something going on right now, there's about to be a, uh . . ."

"We're heading off to war," Fai said, when Kurogane seemed to be at a loss. "An enemy who abuses his power and treats humans badly needs to be taken to task. It is our responsibility to do this."

"Your responsibility? Are you some kind of law enforcement?" Chitose asked.

"In a sense," Fai agreed, grateful to have a simple way to explain. "Our enemy is incredibly powerful, and my family the only ones who are capable of standing up to him. My brother is already within his territory, risking his life to get us information. We are going to put an end to this man's cruelties for good."

"I might not come back," Kurogane said. He was restless. "I know I said I'd always be here for you guys, but this is going to be dangerous, and we don't know yet how many people we'll have on our side. So this might be the last time I see you. I just wanted to tell you that I . . . I wanted to say thank you. For letting me be part of your family. I probably would have gone crazy a long time ago if you hadn't."

Sayaka suddenly burst into tears. Kurogane looked completely terrified, so Yuui was the one who wound up going to her and putting an arm around her to soothe her.

"No," Chitose said. Her voice was soft in measure, but there was so much strength in her. "Kurogane, no, you will come back. You _will_ , and I don't care what you have to do to make sure of it. You're our family. You're our— you're one of my best friends."

Kurogane looked incredibly startled by that, and Fai ached for him.

"Don't you know that?" she asked, playing with the hair that fell over her shoulder. "You played with me when I was small, and you listened to all my prattle when I was a bratty little girl. Do you remember when I was in high school and I went to a party and drank too much and got scared? And I called you because I was scared to call Mom and Dad? And you came for me, and took me home and kept watch over me all night while I threw up. And when I went off to college and I was lonely and scared that I was failing my classes, I called you and you talked to me and listened. You're a hundred years old and putting up with desperate phone calls from angst-ridden teenagers. You were always there when I needed you."

"And you kept us so safe," Sayaka said, her voice shuddering. She leaned against Yuui gratefully as she spoke. "I was never afraid of anything because I knew you would be there. I knew that someone would help me get rid of that boy who couldn't take no for an answer. I knew I could walk across campus to my car after my night class and not be afraid. I knew you were watching over me. You always were."

"I was just trying to, I mean, it wasn't a big deal," Kurogane blurted out. "It's not like I had anything better to do!"

"One of the other mothers in a parent group I'm part of was talking last week about how often she worries about her kids. She said this world is a terrifying place, it's full of death and rapists and overdue bills and car accidents . . . All the other mothers were saying that they understood. They were telling her that you had to just not think about it so much, that you did your best to prepare your child for the future and then trusted the universe to take care of them. And you know what? I didn't say a word. I couldn't. Because I don't _understand_ that. I don't worry about my son. I never have. He's going to have you. My family has a guardian angel."

"That's how I feel about the girls," Chitose said. "I just never worry that they'll get hurt, because you always kept me and Sayaka safe. Oh, Kurogane, don't say you won't come back. Don't say you won't be there to protect our kids the way you did for us. I know these men are your family, but so are we."

"You have to come back," Sayaka whispered. "You have to. I couldn't bear to think of a world without you."

Kurogane cleared his throat. "I didn't say I wouldn't try or anything," he said, sounding painfully embarrassed.

Fai had no hand in teaching his child, but then he'd been only a child himself when he made him. He should have been humbled to witness this, but instead he was so proud he thought his chest would burst.

Sayaka and Chitose were looking at each other, and it was the type of expression that Fai recognized. He and Yuui could do that. It was a sibling thing. The two women got up at almost the same moment and presented themselves to Kurogane, who looked up at them with a scowl.

"What are you doing?"

"Something Nana Tomoyo told us about," Sayaka replied.

"What did she tell you?"

"That after all the time, all the loyalty our family has shared with you, all this closeness . . . Our blood is probably specially attuned to you. I don't know how she knw, but she said it's something that happens with prey after a long time. Their blood starts to change to make itself better for the vampire. And our blood might have been changing to be what you need, all this time."

"You are not asking me to— Do you really think I'd— you want me to drink from you?" Kurogane jumped to his feet and backed away from them. "No."

It was an interesting idea. Certainly Yuui's blood did more for Fai that anyone else, but he had always believed it was because they were twins. In some ways, Fai was not well-educated, despite his mother's efforts. He didn't know if it was true , but he was intrigued by the idea.

Kurogane, it seemed, was merely offended.

"There is no way in hell I would do that!"

Yuui put a hand on his arm to quell him. "Why not?"

"You're not serious!"

"I am," Yuui answered, just as both women also said, "Yes, we are."

"We need every advantage we can get in the fight ahead of us," Fai pointed out. "Especially you, Kurogane."

"We're not asking you to bed us, you know," Chitose said, with a sudden hint of teasing in her tone. "We just want to give you our blood, stop making it sound like we're propositioning you."

"I didn't think you were _propositioning_ me," Kurogane muttered. "I just don't think . . ."

"He will do it," Yuui told them decisively.

From the little he'd seen of Tomoyo in Kurogane's memories, Fai was not surprised in the least that daughters of her line were capable of taking out a penknife and slashing their own palms open without a qualm. Steadfast, brave women, all of them.

Kurogane still didn't seem convinced, but he was helpless to protest when Sayaka thrust her hand with blood dripping from her fingers into his face. Fai smelled it and marveled. They smelled of hearth fire and polished wood. Home. They smelled "home." Kurogane kept his eyes on the ground and drank of their blood only sparingly.

Fai was shocked when the two women moved to stand in front of _him_. Their hands and delicate wrists were smeared and fingerprinted with blood.

"You, too," Chitose said. "I don't know how similar you might be to Kurogane, but if you're part of his family then I think it might help you, too. I know we've only just met, but I want the chance to get to know you. I want you to return home with him. Drink."

It was not very often that a human offered up their blood so freely or with such pure intentions. Fai couldn't argue. He just humbly put his tongue to the gash in her palm and honored the request.

Yuui took up the knife and slashed open his own palm when the women went off to wash and bandage their cuts. He knelt down in front of Fai and brushed a bloodied thumb over his lips before offering up the gash on his hand.

"Take from me, too. Not much, because I'm still not well and I know that Kurogane so shut up, but a little. For luck."

"Luck?" Kurogane snorted.

"We'll need all of it we can get."

"What we'll need is Yuuko's court to be on our side and some allies fighting with us," Kurogane pointed out. "Luck's got nothing to do with it."

"For love, then," Yuui said softly, and pulled his hand away from Fai to put it before Kurogane.

Fai watched closely. This would be the first time Kurogane had tasted the blood he said smelled so alluring to him.

One swipe of his tongue, and Kurogane's eyes fluttered closed and he grunted like he'd been punched in the gut. "Ungh."

"What do I taste like, then?" Yuui asked in amusement.

"Honey mead," Kurogane muttered.

Fai would not have put it that way, but he could see why Kurogane said it. Yuui's blood was sweet and golden and warm. And intoxicating. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. Honey mead.

When the women came back into the room, all three men stood up.

"We have to go now," Kurogane said. "But I . . . I'll come back. I swear it. I'll come home."

" _I'll be right behind you, I swear it."_

Just like he'd promised Tomoyo. And so Fai did not doubt for a minute that even if all the rest of them should perish in this fight, Kurogane would still return to his family. Kurogane kept his promises.

* * *

Twenty vampires ranged out behind them as they skirted the edge of Fei Wang Reed's lands, those who had come at Yuuko's urgent summons and had seen the notebook where Kimihiro had written down what he'd discovered. It was easy enough to check a few of the facts, and the note itself was clearly in Fei Wang Reed's hand, they all agreed. It was addressed to Yue and asked him to meet Reed alone. Yue had gone to the meeting and never returned, and it was obvious that Reed, at least, had not been alone.

"He always did have too much faith in our brother," Yuuko had whispered in grief, before she'd nearly destroyed the note and Suu had been forced to prise it from her grip.

From the notes Kimihiro had written, it seemed that Sakura had been following Yue, whom she still believed was a harmless nobody called Yukito, simply out of curiosity. She'd seen Reed and his children attack Yue. Yue had fought fiercely and had killed two of Reed's children before he fell. Sakura had run directly to Syaoran, not knowing that they had her scent. She had been followed by Freya, and the two of them were taken by Reed. Syaoran's disappearance was what had caused Kimihiro to realize Reed had a hand in Yue's death. He had offered his service to Reed in exchange for the promise of safety for Syaoran and Sakura, and he'd gone there hoping to quickly prove what he'd done and leave again.

He hadn't counted on the power of Reed's influence over him.

Some of his notes barely made sense. It was clear he was fighting a hard battle just to collect his rebellious thoughts and write them down. Reed kept him under tight control. Syaoran and Sakura were thralls, with little left of the charming young couple they'd once been. But Kimihiro did what he could. He claimed the two of them as his own and wouldn't allow any other vampires to touch them. Once he'd finally discovered that Sakura was a witness to the death, he'd kept her even more tightly under his control and protection. From the dates he'd scribbled down, it seemed he had gotten enough evidence not just days, nor even weeks, but _years_ ago. It had taken him this long to gather enough of his own self-will together to make the effort to contact them.

Kimihiro, going by the notebook, had only decided to risk Syaoran's life a few weeks ago, when he and Kyle had put together their plan. It was suicide for Kyle, but it was what Kyle had wanted. Not a quiet and dignified death for him, no, he wanted to go out releasing all the pent-up rage he was never allowed. He wanted to die angry and defiant. But he'd still agreed to help Kimihiro, to ensure his sire's destruction. He'd delivered them the notebook, in the end.

Yuuko's grief when she realized that Kimihiro had trapped himself in a prison showed itself as anger. White-hot rage.

"He always thinks he shouldn't burden anyone else," she had hissed, with Suu and Ora doing their best to soothe her with cool hands and soft voices. "He always thinks he should do everything on his own. And we have spent all this time believing he _wanted_ to be there!"

The only thing keeping her from knocking them all out with the pulsing power building up in her was the promise of unleashing it on their enemy instead. She was a snarling roil of energy stalking along the edge of Reed's territory.

Fai was some distance away from the rest of them, for the moment. His group had driven here in a car rather than run, much as it clearly chafed Kurogane. There hadn't been a choice since Yuui, Shizuka, and Himawari were with them. And the moment had at last arrived, and Yuui was looking at Fai in a way that had him suspecting what Yuui wanted before he even opened his mouth to speak.

"Fai. Enthrall me."

"No," he said flatly.

"Fai, you must be reasonable. I'm waiting here with the car, but you have powerful enemies and they can take me from you as I am now. You know this."

" _Je m'en fou_. No."

"You can release me when it's over, Fai, you know you can. Please do it. Enthrall me. It will be no time at all, and I will be safe that way. Please, Fai. Please do this for me." Then he grabbed Kurogane's hand. "It's for all of us. If Fai will not do it, then Kurogane must."

Kurogane looked sickened at the very thought, just as Fai was. "Is it really going to protect you?"

"I can be enthralled by any vampire . . . Unless I already belong to one. If I am enthralled to one of you, then it is not possible for another to do undo it. Not without killing you first. And if you were dead, I would not _care_ what they did to me afterward," he added darkly.

Kurogane reached out a hand and smacked him on the back of the head, hard.

"Ouch!"

"Don't you ever say that," Kurogane said fiercely. "Even if we both die today, you had better care about what happens to you. Whatever happens today, you try to live."

Yuui gaped at him, and then his face broke open and the two of them fell into a kiss.

Shizuka and Himawari were suspiciously silent in the front seats. Shizuka's hands were white-knuckled on the wheel.

"I will do it, Yuui," Fai said at last. Even now, even with as much as he'd accepted how this family was going to work, he was still not quite willing to allow Kurogane to be the one to enthrall Yuui to him. "Look at me," he said, once the kiss had ended. Yuui turned to him, and there was no doubt in his eyes. He trusted Fai, and Yuui's trust had always been his salvation.

He bared his fangs and bit his own thumb, letting a bright bead of blood well up. Yuui obediently sucked the finger into his mouth. Fai looked into his eyes and dove deep and _pulled_ on the taste of himself on Yuui's tongue, pulling it deep into Yuui, into his mind, taking him over, clouding his vision . . .

"Yuui, can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Yuui, I would like you to kiss Shizuka."

Yuui immediately started to clamber over the console, and Shizuka let out a small yelp as he tried to defend himself from Yuui's questing lips.

"Never mind, Yuui," Fai said. Then he covered his face with his hand so they wouldn't see how it twisted in grief. It had worked. Yuui's mind was gone away, buried under Fai's will. It would keep him safe, but Fai could not stand it for a moment longer than necessary. He would break this power as soon as the fighting was done.

"Kurogane?"

It was Himawari, speaking from the front seat. She and Shizuka were holding hands, clutched together so tightly that Fai could smell their palms sweating.

"What is it?"

"Kurogane, we . . . You need to do it to us. What Fai just did. You need to make us thralls."

"Not a chance in hell. No."

Shizuka turned his head away from Himawari to look at Kurogane. "Really? You're going to take us in there and leave us undefended? I'm your prey, and Himawari's technically yours, too. We're your responsibility. We're not about to come this far just to get snatched up by someone else before we even get to meet the one we're here for. We need to be protected, and it's your job."

A long silence followed.

"You are a dirty cheater,' Kurogane growled. "Fuck you, Shizuka."

A grim smile crossed his lips.

"I think it will be easier if we get out of the car now," Fai suggested. "You have to be able to see their eyes."

Kurogane had no problem with tearing a hole in his own skin, but he hesitated when it came time to put his blood on Himawari's tongue. "Fuck," he muttered shakily as she sucked his finger into her mouth before he could protest.

"Do it," Fai urged him, even going so far as to press a little influence on him. Kurogane did it, and then moved on to Shizuka, and then he stood there practically twitching with discomfort.

"Okay. We're ready," Fai declared, turning away from the blank looks that their human friends and lovers were wearing. "Yuui, you will stay here in the car. You will wait for us to return. If someone comes with the two thralls named Sakura and Syaoran, you are to leave us behind and drive them to the nearest hospital and await us there. If Shizuka and Himawari return alone, you will leave with them immediately and return to our home and await us there. Do you understand?"

"I do."

"Okay. Kurogane, you will have to command these two. We will be ranging ahead of them, but they are to follow us as closely as they can without endangering their lives, and they are to stick close to us until we locate Kimihiro."

Kurogane dutifully repeated the orders, and his two new thralls agreed to do as he said. Then they walked over to where Yuuko paced restlessly. Suu, Ora, and Kazuhiko were waiting together there.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for Kazuhiko to be here?" Fai asked doubtfully.

Kazuhiko turned to him and twirled a sharpened stake of bamboo in his hands like it was a stave. It was still green and full of life. There was a collection of such stakes waiting for them. "Haven't you noticed yet, fool?"

Fai blinked. "You've been turned."

"Suu did it this morning," he confirmed, baring his fangs.

"I see. Why?"

"We are three, not two and one," Ora said. "We have found a great deal of pleasure in Kazuhiko remaining human, but our bond is more important than mere pleasure. This is the greatest threat we've ever faced, and we would face it together."

Suu fit between her two taller companions so neatly. For a moment, Fai thought about Yuui, chained to his will and waiting in their rented car. He could have turned Yuui, had thought of it many times in the past hundred years. But he would not do it, and he knew Kurogane would not do it. Yuui was meant to be human, just as much as Suu, Kazuhiko, and Ora were meant to be together in all things.

"Fai," Yuuko called out sharply, gesturing him over to her. Kurogane had been asking Kazuhiko where to get a stake, and now he followed Fai with his newly chosen weapon, and an extra for Fai, in hand. "Fai, I made you to be my hunter. Will you serve me now?"

Fai felt a little thrill roll over his spine, and he saw the gleam of Kurogane's fangs even as his own grew long. "I have made a hunter of my own, Mother. We will."

"Find your brother, and find mine. We are behind you."

"Mistress," Fai murmured.

And then the hunt began.

* * *

They crashed into the room in a confusion of screams and curses and pounding footsteps. It had been easy to get inside, unexpected as they were. It hadn't been easy for long. Reed's guards and retainers swarmed them. The two hunters were sharper and quicker than any of them, but they'd still had to fight for their path. They'd run like coursing hounds on a scent and made it halfway into Reed's very manor, but then they were forced to stop and fight. They tore at their enemies with tooth and claw and stabbed with their living weapons. They battled their way upstairs.

They crashed into the room, and they were covered in blood and ashes. Their clothes were tattered and shredded, along with their skin. But they were alive and their enemies were not. They were victorious. They had tracked the scent to this room, and they had found their quarry.

Kimihiro was seated beside the bed where a young man lay pale and silent between white sheets. He was bandaged and his face was peaceful. Kimihiro scrambled to his feet when they came in, snatching up the poker from the fireplace.

_Fai!_

Suu's voice. It always called him back. Fai groaned, and scrubbed his hands across his face. He grabbed at Kurogane's arm, but it wasn't necessary. Kurogane didn't lose himself the way Fai did. He was still alert. Smeared with the crumbling remains of the vampires he'd killed to get here, but aware of himself.

"Kimihiro," Fai sighed, overcome with relief to find his brother in one piece. He held his arms open and hurried forward to embrace him. "I told you we'd come."

Kimihiro ducked away, swinging his weapon. "Fool," he sneered.

"What?"

"You've walked right into the manor and all but handed yourself over to me. What deranged plan could possibly involve trapping yourself in the heart of your enemy's kingdom?"

"Like hell we're trapped," Kurogane answered, twirling his bloodied stake with satisfaction. "I'll get us out of here. Can you carry that one? We need our hands free to fight."

"You talk as though I am coming with you. As though I should cooperate."

"Why wouldn't you . . .?" Fai began to ask faintly, and then he realized. Syaoran's blood had been two days ago already. He'd lost his ability to resist. He was under Fei Wang Reed's control again, and Kimihiro was not their ally just now. "You're not even really here, are you? Oh, my brother," he whispered when he received only a snarl in reply. "He has his claws sunk into so deeply you don't even feel them anymore."

He couldn't get at Kimihiro's mind, not even standing here in front of him. Reed's influence was like a heavy blanket draped around it. Fai couldn't find a way underneath.

"Look at Syaoran," he urged, for this was certainly Syaoran. Fai had never met him, but he'd seen him in Kurogane's memories. He'd been so bright and happy, with a bright and happy girl beside him. Physically he was still but twenty, but the stillness of his body and gray pallor to his skin took away that youthful countenance. "He gave you as much power as he could, don't you remember? You called me. Try to remember, Kimihiro. Try, please."

Kimihiro's influence slammed into him. "Don't tell me what to do."

"I am not. I am only begging you to come home with me. Come see our mother and our sister. Take Syaoran to safety. That's what you want, isn't it?"

More power, like wave after wave breaking on his head. It bore him down to his knees. Fai looked up at Kimihiro in despair.

"If we don't leave now, we'll be caught. The others aren't here to defend us yet. Is that what you want?"

"It is," he confirmed.

Kurogane snorted, and Fai looked over to him with surprise. He was still on his feet.

"This skinny little— I'm not bowing to you, twerp."

Kimihiro hissed, baring his fangs, and the weight of his will pushed Kurogane down to his knees.

Kurogane braced his hand against the floor. "I'm not dying here. I'm going home." He shoved himself back to his feet. Fai found the strength to do the same.

Kimihiro brandished the fire poker and grinned like a madman. "You will bow to me or I will call down our hunters on you."

Fai's eyes widened even as Kurogane's narrowed. Kurogane had no knowledge of Reed's pair of hunters.

That was when Ora and Kazuhiko came tearing into the room with Shizuka and Himawari carried in their arms.

"These two said you had urgent need of them," Kazuhiko said, setting his burden down. "So we got a little ahead of the others."

The screams in the hallway sounded terrified. That would be Suu and her illusions. She looked sweet and childlike, but she could dream up visions that could haunt you forever and make you think you were living in them. Fai pitied her victims.

"Thank you," Fai said gratefully. He ought to have guessed they wouldn't be able to do this without the two humans.

"Well, love, let's not leave her alone," Ora said, and Kazuhiko gestured for her to go back out the door first. They were gone just as quickly as they'd come. Fai caught from the corner of his eye the movement of Kazuhiko lifting a vampire by its throat and throwing it into the wall.

Fai turned toward Kimihiro once more, with trepidation. He was standing completely still, his fists clenched and his pupils blown. He was fixated on Shizuka and Himawari. He trembled.

"They smell great, don't they?" Kurogane drawled. "They taste even better. Too bad for you that they're mine."

"I want them," Kimihiro said immediately.

"Tough shit." Kurogane sounded almost cheerful. "I said they belong to me."

"You will give them to me."

The power of Kimihiro's influence, his gift from their mother, put Kurogane on his knees again.

"I want these humans. Give them to me now."

Kurogane was heaving, struggling not to do it. He groaned horribly.

"Fai," he muttered. His hand crept over the floor. 'I can't think. I can't."

Fai put his hand atop Kurogane's. He closed his eyes and remembered the tears streaking Sayaka's face when she begged him to come home. Remembered a thing he hadn't even seen, Himawari's bright face as she said she trusted him.

Kurogane shook like an animal shaking off water. "No," he said to Kimihiro. "No." Then he did a reckless, foolish thing. He staggered to his feet and went to the two humans and broke the spell he'd cast on them. Freed their minds. Right there in the heart of Fei Wang Reed's home, he let them go.

Himawari cried out and went to her knees. Shizuka pulled her back up. She looked at Kimihiro.

"Finally," she murmured. "I've finally met you. I've been waiting such a long time, Kimihiro. Waiting such a long time to be able to love you."

Kimihiro trembled.

"You know my voice," she said with assurance. "You know I've been calling and calling. You've heard me. Did you think I wasn't coming?"

Kimihiro tried to speak and choked on it.

"Shizuka," she urged, drawing him forward.

Shizuka never had been much for speaking when action would do. He reached out his hand, and it looked just like the dream. Fai spent a moment paralyzed by double vision, the dream and the reality at once. Shizuka's hand hovered there.

"Take it," he said to Kimihiro. "Come on, take it."

Kimihiro's eyes were glazing over. He wasn't looking at Shizuka's hand. They were losing him.

"I'll give them to you," Kurogane said suddenly. "They're still mine, they're my prey and I'll fight for them if anyone tries to poach them. But I'll give them to you. I want only one thing in exchange."

"Name your price," Kimihiro said. His fangs were dripping saliva. He wanted these two so terribly, terribly badly.

"You have to come with us. We're leaving right now, and you have to come with us. That's it. If you follow us back to our car, you can have them."

The war behind Kimihiro's eyes was painful to watch. Fai sent every scrap of affection he possessed toward Kimihiro's mind, hoping to soften the hold Reed had on him. Hoping Kimihiro could follow it out of the prison Reed had made for him.

"I . . . I want . . ."

Shizuka grabbed up Fai's bamboo stake. He slashed open the palm of his hand. His blood dripped thick onto the floor. He really did smell like pure water, Fai thought, a moment before he became horrified. What was he _doing_?

Shizuka didn't hesitate. He thrust his hand into Kimihiro's face, and let Kimihiro fall onto him with a gasp of desire, fastening his mouth over the wound desperately.

"I've got him," Shizuka said. "Now get us out of here."

Kurogane picked up the unconscious Syaraon off the bed while Fai was still gaping in disbelief. "We have to find Sakura."

That part was easy. Sakura was in the hall outside the room, pressed up against one wall and watching as Ora and Kazuhiko tore one of Reed's vampires to shreds. She looked like she'd been trying to get to them. There was an ornate silver tray at her feet, upended and detritus scattered on the floor. She'd dropped something she'd been carrying, no doubt having been sent by Kimihiro to fetch supplies to treat Syaoran or something similar. When she spotted them, she hurried right over, ignoring the ashes hanging thick on the air. Suu and her children had been busy out here.

"Master," she said, curtsying to Kimihiro. "Please forgive me for asking where you are taking Syaoran."

Kimihiro still had his mouth attached to Shizuka's hand.

"We're leaving," Fai answered for him. "Come with us, dear, we need you to help us take care of Syaoran." It seemed likely that they were going to kill Syaoran trying to get him out of here no matter how delicately Kurogane tried to be with him, but Sakura would be fine if they could get her past the fighting. And brutal as it was to consider, it was Sakura they needed more anyway.

Kimihiro must have somehow pressed his agreement to this whole thing on her, because she followed them obediently.

"Shizuka, we have to get him off of you. He's going to drain you," Fai said, worried that they were walking down the stairs and Kimihiro was still drinking.

"It's the only thing keeping him from going back under," Shizuka answered. "If he stops, we lose him."

"If he doesn't, we lose you," Fai snapped. "Kimihiro, _please_ , can you not hear me?"

Kimihiro looked up at him and his eyes were broken open with anguish. He was with them, but only just. And Shizuka was becoming more white and woozy with every second. They weren't going to make it.

Himawari made a gasping noise of pain, and Fai whirled around expecting to see an enemy attacking her. But it was only that she'd snatched a knife from somewhere and she'd drawn it over her hand. "My turn."

"No," Shizuka said, but she was already elbowing him out of the way and he was too dizzy with blood loss to stop her. She offered her bleeding palm to Kimihiro, and without hesitation he let go of Shizuka and took her in his place. "Shit," Shizuka said as they exited the door of the manor house, and collapsed in a heap on the ground outside.

Fai wasted no time in scooping Shizuka up and carrying him. They just had to get far enough away for Kimihiro to get his mind back. It wasn't far. They could do this. If they could just get Kimihiro to remember who he was, he'd have every attacker on their knees calling him Master and he could pick up Himawari and carry her when the blood loss got to her.

She was stumbling as she led Kimihiro forward, but she did not stop. They went as fast as they could, and they kept on until she stumbled hard enough to fall, and then she didn't get back up.

That was it, then. Kimihiro would drain her and then turn on them, and Fai wasn't sure he or Kurogane had the strength left to resist, not when he was newly fed and full of power.

Something else happened first. A steady pounding of running footsteps was behind them, and Fai realized at once that someone had followed them out of the house.

" _Merde_."

He set Shizuka on the ground, saw that Kurogane was doing the same with Syaoran. Himawari had Kimihiro clutched to her chest, murmuring softly in his ear and trying to keep him distracted. Fai couldn't help a brief smile. She was far stronger than he'd first given her credit for.

He wasn't distracted for long. He and Kurogane both still had their bamboo stakes, and they took them up and whirled around to face the threat, which came crashing through a wall of shrubs with a snarl. Fai let go of anything human, anything like breathing or speaking or trying to push blood into his face to retain a normal pallor. He had to focus now. Had to let himself go cold, turn to death. It was the only way they'd get through this.

Hunter faced hunter. Kurogane and Seishirou snarled at each other, but the quality of Seishirou's growl and the curl of his lips made Kurogane's mind lick against Fai's with startled concern. But Fai didn't need to explain, because the smell of it washed over Kurogane only a second later. Dog. He smelled like old decay and blood and wet dog.

"Fucking werewolves? Are you fucking kidding me?" Kurogane asked flatly.

Seishirou's sharp golden eyes were amused. His companion, more slender but no less deadly, fixed his own eyes of gold on Fai.

"Hello, Fai," he said softly.

He'd always been the more soft-spoken of the two. Fai had much preferred to deal with Subaru when they were aiding Kamui and Fuuma in their escape from Reed's coven.

"It's good to see you again," he answered. Showing his confusion was disadvantageous and by vampire standards just plain _impolite_ , so he tried to keep his face calm and easy. He was confused, though. It seemed odd for Reed's werewolf hunter to offer a kind greeting before getting down to the business of ripping him apart with his teeth.

"I'm guessing these things won't work on them," Kurogane said, twirling his staff a little before jamming the blood-stained butt of it into the ground for safekeeping. Both ends were bloodied and smeared with ash. Kurogane had been surprisingly adept with the weapon. He had his claws at the ready, shifting restlessly.

"We're not here to fight you," Subaru said, lifting his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

"Then what do you want?" Fai asked sharply. "If you're going to let us go, then let us go, and I'll figure out why on earth you're allowing it later. These boys need medical attention quickly."

"Allowing it?" Seishirou repeated. His voice was smooth, melodic. He always looked and sounded so incongruously put-together for such a violent and monstrous man. If you could call him a man. "We're under orders."

And suddenly Fai understood. "They're here?"

"Who's here? What the hell is going on?" Kurogane snapped, his impatience causing him to cut his lip on his fangs. Blood dripped from his chin.

"Reed's children. Kamui and Fuuma. They came to us and asked for help getting out from their sire's influence, hiding from him. They never wanted to be turned, and afterward they wanted to be left alone. And these two . . . These two escorted them out of Reed's territory. They aren't vampires, they can't be influenced by his power in the same way. They can disobey him if they choose. Werewolves have a harder time surviving the human world. They usually swear fealty to a coven, but they can leave if they choose."

"So what the fuck are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that Kamui and Fuuma are here. And for whatever reason, they've ordered these two to let us pass. You're sworn to them, then?"

Seishirou's lip curled in disgust at that, but Subaru had a small smile on his lips. "Yes, we've sworn."

" _We_ did nothing—" Seishirou began to mutter, but Subaru slinked up to him with his animal grace, and laid a hand over his mouth.

"Of course we did," he said firmly. And Seishirou went belly up like a pup with his alpha, lowering his eyes and acquiescing.

"Can you think of no reason?" a cheerful voice called out, and crunching loud footsteps approached them for the second time. Fuuma was a disgrace to vampire kin everywhere, the way he tramped along and shouted.

"Your mistress and her household have been our allies since our making," Kamui said more formally, coursing ahead of Fuuma with much quieter tread, and approaching Fai immediately. They clasped their forearms together in brief greeting. Kurogane had too many possible enemies to look out for, and he bristled with nerves when Kamui touched Fai. Fai took pity on him, beckoned him over to his side, and touched his arm. He dampened Kurogane's fear and pressed his own sense of calm onto him.

"We're among friends, Kurogane," he murmured.

Kurogane was eyeing Seishirou doubtfully, but he allowed Fai to hold onto him.

"Do you know our purpose here?" Fai asked Kamui.

"Not exactly, no. We are still somewhat in contact with your coven, and we noticed that you mobilized and headed this direction. We assumed it was war."

"You know us," Fuuma said, still cheerful. "Always up for a good war between covens."

"With any luck, no war will be necessary," Fai said. "We have evidence now that your sire murdered his brother Yue. We are here to formally try and execute him."

"What evidence?" Kamui asked in interest.

Fai hesitated before nodding to Sakura. "We have her memories. She was there. And Yuuko is carrying the note that Fei Wang sent to Yue mere hours before his death, asking to meet with him urgently."

"It's good enough for me," Kamui said brusquely. "We'll go in and help Yuuko. Who has she got with her?"

"Several of our allies. My sister and her children are fiercest, but we have about twenty, the Warashi sisters amongst them."

"Let's go," Kamui said to Fuuma, beckoning him sharply. "They'll need us."

"Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, to kill dear old dad we go," Fuuma sang, and winked at the suspicious Kurogane.

Kamui rolled his eyes. Then they set off, streaking quickly out of sight. After half a moment, the two werewolves whirled to follow. They made a formidable sight, the four of them. Fai would not wish to be the vampire who got in their way.

"No love lost there, huh?" Kurogane said, still sounding bewildered.

"No, likely not," Fai chuckled. "Well, I feel enormously better. They will be able to cow whatever resistance remains, with their status and blood power. If Yuuko has not already reached her brother, she will with their help. And with them standing witness over his execution in addition to our coven, there will be no disputes. Perfect. But we'll need to keep Sakura safe, as insurance. And we really do need to get to a hospital. Urgently."

Kurogane immediately turned back to Syaoran and scooped him up again. He tried to brace his head, to keep the wound in his neck from tearing open, but he still winced in worry as he lifted him up. Sakura hovered at his side, hands fluttering over Syaoran's hair and face.

Fai turned to retrieve Shizuka. He'd kept Himawari and Kimihiro in his peripheral vision during the encounter with the others, and they'd remained quite still. Still enough that he was beginning to worry that Kimihiro had drained Himawari and killed her.

But Kimihiro was standing, and helping Himawari back to her feet. His eyes were lost, darting around, frightened, but they were clear. He nuzzled his mouth against her bloody hand, but didn't drink anymore.

"Fai, I don't— I don't remember— where are we—?"

"We need to go that way," Fai nodded in the direction of the car, arms occupied with Shizuka.

Kimihiro nodded, and looked at Himawari again. "Just talk to me, please." He picked her up in his arms, and began to carry her in the direction Fai had indicated. "Keep talking to me. I've dreamed of your voice. I think I can make it if you'll talk to me."

"My name is Himawari," she said, and laid her head weakly on his shoulder. "And that is Shizuka. We were born for you."

Fai would have cried if he could have. Kimihiro was going to be okay, wasn't he? He was back. His brother was safe, and if they could just get out of here, these two brave and lovely humans would be safe as well. The man in Kurogane's arms, he was less sure about. And then there was Sakura, dazed and trailing behind them silently, but that was something they'd have to deal with later.

"I first dreamed about you when I was only thirteen," Himawari said. "I didn't know it was you, of course. We only learned it was you a few days ago. We came as soon as we could. We knew you needed us. You've done such a brave thing, Kimihiro. You did such a wonderful, brave thing, coming here on your own and trying to help your family. I wish you hadn't done it alone. Your family would have helped you. You're not going to be alone anymore, because Shizuka and I will be with you."

Himawari kept up a steady stream of chatter all the way to the car where Yuui waited. Fai wanted to break the enthrallment the second he saw his face, accepting their return without showing any signs of actually caring. But the expedient thing had to outweigh what he wanted right now.

"Yuui, drive us to the nearest hospital. Please travel as fast as you can while still remaining within the parameters of local traffic laws."

They all piled into the car, bloodied and dirty and smearing ash all over the car's upholstery. Yuui obeyed his orders and gunned the engine.

"Why aren't we helping them with Reed?" Kurogane spoke up, sounding exhausted.

"They can do without us," Fai said. Yuuko would give him hell for it later, but that didn't mean it wasn't true. "I imagine my mother is eating his heart right out of his chest by now, if she didn't let Kamui have the honor. She has Suu with her and all those allies. Let's just get these poor brave fools some medical treatment and go home."

"Home?" Kimihiro said in a brittle voice. "I don't have one."

Himawari had passed out in his lap. Shizuka was half-conscious in Fai's, but he was listless and unable to speak. Sakura was wedged between him and Kurogane, and all her concern was for Syaoran. Wasn't this Kimihiro's family, just as much as Yuuko and Suu and the courtiers?

"You will come home with us, for now," Fai answered. "You still have a place at Mother's side anytime you want it, of that I am sure. But you are also welcome, always welcome, with us. I imagine that seems safer to you for now."

Kimihiro ducked his head, and Fai knew there would be a long road ahead of them, coaxing him out of whatever dark recess of his own mind he'd been shoved into. But they would take him home and make him safe first. He would be with family. He would be with these two humans who already loved him so. And they could take their time. They had all the time in the world.


	5. forgive my mistakes

Part Five

_they've forgiven my mistakes and I'm coming home_

" _Oh,_ " Yuui gasped. "Yes, that's— _oh yes_ —"

A long string of broken French phrases followed. Kurogane didn't change his rhythm, head bobbing, and feeling rather smug about how much better this was when you didn't have to breathe.

Yuui finished with a hoarse, wordless cry. Kurogane moved aside, but curiously licked at his cum, wondering if it tasted anywhere near as good as his blood. It wasn't the same, but it wasn't terrible. Yuui was still panting for air when he grabbed Kurogane dragged him up into a kiss, pressing him against Yuui's sweat-sticky skin. Kurogane didn't even mind that. His sweat still carried hints of his golden scent.

They kissed lazily for awhile, but Yuui had woken hungry to begin with, and he began to make noises indicative that he wanted to get up and go to the kitchen. Kurogane slithered off of him and watched him get dressed.

"Well?" he couldn't help but ask.

Yuui grinned. "Do not tell me the mighty hunter Kurogane is insecure about his skills in the bedroom."

Kurogane got off the bed, scowling. "Never mind."

Yuui laughed at him. "Well, it was our first time together, so I must give you some slack, I think you say. The grading will become more strict in the future."

Kurogane stomped out of the bedroom, ignoring Yuui's laughing efforts to soothe his ruffled feathers. If Yuui didn't like it, it wasn't like Kurogane had to do it again. He was all about giving something to Yuui in exchange for his blood but if he didn't _want_ it . . .

He paused his stomping so that he could slip into the spare room and check on Syaoran. He was starting to be conscious now and again, but he still got confused easily about where he was and why. He would attempt to get out of bed and then faint and hurt himself. He already had a black eye, and they didn't want it getting any worse.

He'd expected Kimihiro to be in here because he usually was, but the room was empty save Syaoran, who was asleep. No Sakura, either?

Someone was laughing in the kitchen, so he headed that way. Fai and Lucia were laughing over some joke, and Sakura was looking back and forth between them, smiling tentatively. She kept getting confused, too. Being in thrall for over a hundred years was not an easy thing to recuperate from. Neither of them was having a lot of independent thoughts or emotions right now. They only genuinely relaxed when Kimihiro was here.

"Come here, love, and help me peel these carrots," Lucia said, drawing Sakura over to her.

"Okay," she said automatically.

They'd figured out the two of them weren't ready to be asked if they'd _like_ to help peel carrots, or bathe, or watch television. In fact that had led to everyone trying to explain what television even was. They did best when presented with simple tasks and demands.

"Where did Kimihiro go?" he asked Fai, slipping into place to lean against the table right beside him.

"He's with Shizuka and Himawari."

"Is that a good idea?"

"They'll be careful. He feels safer with them than he does with us, anyway."

"Yeah. I'm mostly just worried about when Syaoran wakes up and he's not here."

"We can handle that," Fai said easily. "We'll have to get used to it, if they stay here with us."

"Still don't see why Kimihiro can't keep the kids."

Yuui wandered in, thankfully wearing pants, and peered at dinner preparations. "Don't be silly, it would totally ruin the honeymoon vibe!"

Kurogane wasn't sure how come Kimihiro and his humans were allowed a honeymoon vibe and the three of them got landed with a pair of addled ex-thralls, but this wasn't his house so it wasn't like he got to decide who lived here.

"I was thinking something about that," Fai said. "I really don't think Himawari's apartment is big enough for all three of them."

"And?"

"You should sell them your house, Kurogane."

"Sell them my house? Why would I? Where would I live?"

"Well, _here_ ," Fai said, as though it should be obvious. Maybe it should have been.

Kurogane tried to picture it. Yuui in the master bedroom, Lucia in her room, Syaoran and Sakura in the spare room. Kurogane and Fai taking Yuui in turns, feeding from the other humans when necessary. It wasn't really a bad picture.

It also wasn't going to last, was it?

"So when are we going to talk about the gigantic mess we made when we executed Reed?"

Fai grimaced. "I was hoping to avoid it at least a _little_ longer, to be honest."

"We're probably going to get dragged off to France for a while, aren't we. We're gonna have to present Sakura to somebody so they can confirm her memories, and we're going to have to play nice with the coven, and you've probably got to have symbolic important dinners with those brothers and their weirdo werewolves slaves."

"Kurogane," Fai huffed, sounding amused. "They are not slaves. But yes, likely we will have to deal with those things, and spend a little time in the court. But I will not allow it to become a permanent situation. This is where we've made our home, and there is family that must be looked after here."

Kusanagi had promised to look after the girls if anything did ever happen to Kurogane, which was better than nothing. It was good to hear Fai saying that he was including them in the family. Kurogane trusted that he really would make sure Kurogane could stay here to look after them.

"So there's still one thing I was wondering about."

"Oh,yes?"

"Freya got killed during the fight, right?"

"She did."

"You don't think that Kamui and Fuuma are going to retaliate? That was their sister."

Fai wanted to feel sad, to feel guilt, but he didn't. "She was a mindless weapon for her father, Kurogane. They had no love for her, and she died in battle not in cold blood. No, I don't think they will. We will offer some type of recompense, but they will likely reject it. They have too much else on their minds now to worry about. Rebuilding their father's kingdom, creating children of their own. No, they are quite occupied."

"So it's over. Actually over."

"Yes, I think so." Fai couldn't help closing his eyes for a moment against the wave of sheer relief. "For now we just recuperate. Let us concentrate on making our family whole again. When we've done that, I have a few things I would like to do. I would like to research Kyle Rondart's family to see if there is any left. I would like to give them whatever land or money Reed has made a part of his kingdom. And I would like to give something of Yue's legacy to your family, Kurogane. Chitose and Sayaka."

"Why?"

"If he had been there to see Touya married to your Tomoyo, he would have done it himself. I will have to speak to my mother about it, but I think she would be pleased."

A bowl of carrots went tumbling across the floor. Everyone expected Sakura to go scrambling to clean them up, but instead she just stood there with her green eyes bright for the first time. "Touya?"

"Do you remember your brother, Sakura?" Fai asked carefully.

"Touya," she whimpered. Tears slipped from her eyes. "Touya, Yukito, Tomoyo, no no _no_ —"

Yuui hurried to her side and gathered her up in his arms and she sobbed into his shirt. The other thing they'd figured out pretty fast was that any vampire who wasn't Kimihiro wasn't allowed to touch her. It really set her off. So Lucia and Yuui took care of her as much as possible. It didn't seem to bother Syaoran as much, although that might be attributed to his physical weakness right now.

"I want Touya," Sakura cried.

In some ways, this was encouraging. It was the first time she'd said she wanted anything since they brought her here.

"Where is he? He's dead, isn't he? Where is Tomoyo? Is Tomoyo dead? Everyone is. No no no no no."

"Oh, shit," Kurogane said. She was spiraling her way down into some kind of episode. "Hey, listen to me. Sakura. Listen. Do you want me to tell you about them? About Touya and Tomoyo?"

She gasped and trembled in Yuui's arms, but managed to squeak out a "yes."

"They both missed you very much after you were gone. Once Yukito, and you and Syaoran, had gone away, they felt like they only had each other. Well, and me, I guess. So they got married. Does that make you feel any better? They got married and they were good to each other. They were friends. And they had two really wonderful girls named Suki and Sakura. They named one of their daughters after you."

"They were happy?" Sakura asked, peeping out at him from Yuui's embrace.

"Yeah.," Kurogane answered, remembering how it was. They had a lot of respect for each other, if not a lot of desire. They worked well together. They raised beautiful daughters. "I think they were."

"I'm so angry," she said, crying again. "I'm so angry because I wanted to marry Syaoran and have children, too. I wanted our kids to play with Tomoyo's."

"Yeah. I'm sorry it didn't end up that way. I really am." He chanced reaching out and putting a hand to her hair. She didn't panic any worse, so he called it a success. "But you and Syaoan can still do that, you know? Maybe your children will wind up playing with her great-great-grandkids. And you still have a family here with us."

Sakura was beginning to smile a little. She didn't seem to want to leave Yuui's arms, but she was looking toward the door where Syaoran was sleeping and looking hopeful.

"You don't think it's too late for us to be happy?" she whispered.

"Oh, _ma cherie,_ " Yuui murmured, rubbing her back soothingly. "It it never too late for that."


End file.
